Rehab For Misfits
by Life'sABreeze50
Summary: A young woman helps at a summer camp to get away from her problems. Little does she know that her personal issues are the least of her worries! A romantic dramedy. General characters involved, but centered on Darui x OC
1. The sarcastic, witty girl

_Last year around this time, I fell in love with a boy. From what I could tell, he loved me too. Maybe that's what was so frightening to him, I don't know. Long story short, the relationship that we had didn't last for too long, and before I knew it, I felt like I didn't even have an impact in life anymore…_

~*~*~  
>"So how long are you gonna be here at this…"<p>

"Camp? Is that the word you're looking for? Camp?"

"I was going to say… activity vacation."

Ugh. No matter how much the truth stared her in the face, my mother had a hard time with accepting things with the way they really were. Though I didn't think that she would change her reception of my leaving for the summer, I hoped that she would at least have enough maturity to adapt gradually to it. No such luck, however. Even now, while she's dropping me off at the train station, there is still a bleak look on her face.

I'm in my second year of college, and she still treats me like I'm her whole world. It's like she's afraid that I'll just leave her and forget about her or something. But, that was the whole reason that I moved back home in the first place. I mean, it's not like I had that many friends, or that my roommate and I were actually getting along, which is the truth. I just felt like I had to start over again, but after the incident of last year, AKA, Winter of Heartbreak, I knew that I needed to prioritize my life once again.

"Take care of yourself, mommy," yes, I know. Tease me all you want, I still call her that.

I bring my three bags of luggage on the train, while standing in the doorway. I find it a little bittersweet- especially since I can now say that I'm about to leave my best friend.

"Oh, you too honey." We hug each other, and as we part she gives me that almost-crying-whimper face. I hate it when she does that face.

"I'll be back in three months, mom."

"I know, but… MY ONLY BABY'S LEAVING ME!" Loud, much? Unfortunately, everyone looked over at us, and as they walked past, a black couple gave us the look of shame. I know, I know, I forgot the rule: Never embarrass your race in a public place. Because then people will be expecting it and buy into the stereotypical hypes.

"Calling train train 154."

"Mom, that's me. I've gotta board now." Thank God.

"I love you, Breena."

Sigh. This was going to be harder than I thought. "I love you too, mom."

We hugged one last time before I went to sit in my seat. Even then, I was able to wave at her. Gotta love window seats. As the train started to speed off gradually, I found it hard to keep my eye on her. It was kind of heartbreaking- and I was the one who was leaving! Before long, we were past the train station, then the street, and finally the city. I felt myself smiling, and even felt a tear in my eye. Lame, huh?

Oh well, I really hope that this camp will really be worth taking me out of the comfort zone that is my life…

As the bus dropped me off at the designated stop, I became anxious. This whole extra credit project is starting to seem off kilter, and a little… stupid. Really? Really? NOW it was seemed stupid? What am I thinking? OF COURSE it would be stupid! It was a summer camp… for high school kids!

With pre-K children all you have to do is lie them down for naps. You give elementary kids some candy and they'll be nice to you. Hand the middle schoolers some video games and they'll leave you alone, but High School kids? Totally different genre. All that they wanted to do was talk… about boys and sex. I've been there and done that. Didn't totally move on, which was the reason why I didn't want to reminisce about the good ol' days, especially when there weren't any.

"Maybe if I run, I can still catch that bus…"

"Breena? Breena Jones?" A voice calls my name, just then the thought of running seemed like a great last ditch effort.

I decide against it however when I think about how fast I'd need to run- and besides, exercise isn't in my forte.

When the guy caught up to me, he placed his hands on his knees to regain his breath, and then stood upright while flashing me a charming grin.

"Are you Breena?"

"Yes, I am."

"Good," he let out an exasperated breath. "The last two women that were here all looked at me like I was crazy and ran…"

' There were others? Maybe I should've joined the trend. But…'

Now that I look him over, he is pretty cute. Must be my senior by a couple of years.

"My name is Yamato. I'll be your escort for today."  
>"Escort? Nobody said anything about needing an escort. Are things that bad here?"<p>

"No! No. It's just that you'll find things more complex than your typical summer camp."

"Complex? How?"

"Ah… I'll let you see for yourself. But just to make sure I don't get you nervous, you can actually think of me as more of a… tour guide."

"Hmm. Alright"

He then grabbed all three of my bags and carried them over his shoulder like they were nothing. Damn men.

As we opened the gate, my eyes delighted in seeing nothing but green pasture. It wasn't until a moment later when I noticed the huge compound full of cabins. Some kids were running around all over the place, while some *gasp* adults stood by to make sure that no one got hurt. Maybe there was some sorta game going on…

"Stay along the path, miss."

"Huh," I barely noticed the pavement that we were walking along.

"If you don't, you'll also be a target."

"Target?"

For some reason, the people that were playing stopped, and gained mischievous looks in their eyes, especially one blond kid who had his hands full of water balloons.

"The campers love to play tricks on us counselors. Some of which can leave marks."

Wow. "Marks from a water balloon fight? What are the adults, total pansies?"

Shit. Can't believe that I came right out and said that. I'm totally gonna get kicked out.

However, instead of getting upset, he just smiled and said, "Maybe we are."

Sigh of relief. Thank God for favor, though I really have to watch my mouth.

"Um… Mr. Yamato? I just noticed something."

As I turned my head towards the cabins, I noticed something.

"There are a lot of cabins, but they're divided, and colored differently. Why?"

He turned towards me a bit, "Ah… I think that I'll let Mr. Mifune explain that one to you."

"Mr… Mifune? Why? Is there some kind of dangerous secret that I can't know about in the open? Is this camp really a bad one for delinquents?"

"No. I just don't want for you to late for your orientation. And honestly, Lady Tsunade would get very angry at me if I'm late getting to the soccer field to help her out today. I did promise her, after all. I mean-"

He turned all the way to face me. A bizarre shadow grew on his face and he became serious. "You don't want for me to break my promise, do you?"

Oh my gosh! What is he? "Um…. N-no?"

"Good." He turned back around and continued walking. "Then let's be on our way."

I tried to put my bugged out eyes back into their sockets. What the fuck? I tried to regain my composure by looking for someone nearby . I actually think that I need an adult… or another one.

~*~*~

"Bri-Brina Jones? Welcome to Shinobi camp, the fantasy summer camp designed for youngsters with vast imaginations."

"Thank you. Actually, it's Breena."

The old dude with the long hair stared at me unimpressed. "That's what I said, right? Brina?"

"No, sir. It's pronounced Bree- in- uh."

"Hmm. Breena? Irish name?"

"I doubt it. I think my mom was trying to be 'original'. Didn't work out too well for me."

"My apologies."

I shrugged. "Eh. Didn't turn out too bad."

"Hmm. So, Breena," He stood up from his seat behind his desk and walked towards large windows facing the compound.

"I'm sure that you've noticed our little arrangement."

Hard not to. "Yes, sir."

"Good. Then I'll explain this in simplest terms. Each section of the camp uses a color. There are five sections, each of which is represented by a counselor. The counselors select the activities of their group and are helped by subordinates and volunteers. You are one of those volunteers."

"Yes, sir."

"It is your responsibility to monitor these rascals and make sure that no pandemonium occurs. You'll be working with Tsunade based on the prerequisites, of course."

Prerequisites? "That sounds good."

"I've been indicated of your situation by Ms. Richards. She told me about what happened to you last year, and hopes that this will be a therapeutic experience."

"I do too, believe me."

He grew somber as he turned to me, "I'm sure that you'll find that at this camp, second chances are given on the daily basis."

"Yes, sir. Thank you."

He smiled. "Alright. Now it's time for your tour guide to show you around."

"What? I thought that Yamato had to help out with soccer or something?

"He is. That's why we got a replacement."

Suddenly a knock came from the door. "Mr. Mifune? Can I come in?"

"Sure."

Oh gosh. Another guide? I was just trying to get over the first one.

But when door opened, and I found that I suddenly couldn't breathe. A gorgeous, tall guy with… (white?) hair walked through. His hair was covering over one eye, the other which looked uninterested. He was wearing a sleeveless shirt, which showed two tattoos on both of his buff arms.

"Hope that I didn't interrupt anything important?"

Wow. His lazy, apathetic voice was music to my ears.

"Not at all, Darui. You're just in time. I was just explaining to Breena the basics of our 'special' facility."

Darui? What an interesting and… weird name.

He looked over to the side and put a hand through his hair, "Yeah. You got that right. It certainly is… special."

Mifune gave him a bored, sarcastic look, "Isn't it, though?"

Wait. Is it me, or does Mifune seem as uninterested as Darui?

"Well. I should introduce you two. Darui this is Breena; Breena, Darui."

I thought that he would be cold, but it caught me off guard when Darui reached his hand out to me and smiled.

"Hi. How's it going?"

I slowly accepted the hand, and shook it. "Um…hi…"

"Darui is one of our most trusted and excellent volunteers. He's been with the camp since he was a child; and from there he was given the benefit to be a part of this…um… thing."

"Didn't have your coffee, huh?" Darui asked Mifune.

He yawned before responding. "…No. That was a dumb decision on my part. After all, who can stay awake amongst all of this… excitement?"

Are these guys for real? It's just utter sarcasm with them.

I decided to take a risk and ask, "Does this camp… suck?"

Both of them looked at me like I just flashed them my breasts. It looks like I still hadn't taken my own advice to shut up.

Finally, Darui rubbed his head again, and turned to Mifune. "Eh. Newbie will get the hang of it."

Newbie?

Mifune grinned at his accomplice in the hidden humor. "I hope that she doesn't. If so, then we'll have more chaos than we do now."

Chaos? How is there chaos? Through arts and crafts… and balloon fights?

The camp leader sat down at his desk and held his head up by the leniency of his propped elbow and hand.

"To answer your question, no. This camp doesn't suck. In fact for new comers like yourself, I'm sure that you'll find things to be special."

There was that stupid word again.

"Well," I started. "There has to be a reason for you both to be so…"

"-Enthused?" He finished for me.

"Yeah! I expected for you to be like those over- excited camp counselors that do children's' camps."

"God, I hate people like that," he said with a dreary tone. Darui nodded in agreement.

"Me, too."

"They're all 'let's sing and hold hands all day'," Mifune rolled his eyes at the thought of it.

I went out on a limb, "I take it that you've done that before. Based on your accurate portrayal, of course."

I thought that he would punish me for being so trite, but then I heard him laugh at my comment. "I can tell that you're going to be an interesting volunteer, Ms. Jones."

He looked over at the really fine guy, "Take her to her cabin, will you?"

Darui grinned, "Yes, sir. Where do you want for her to stay?"

"Eh, take her to Hatake. He'll know what to do with her."

What the hell?

"Yes, sir."

Darui lifted my bags over his shoulder, just like Yamato did. Damn men. Then he nodded at me to join him while he walked out of the office. Before I followed him, I bowed to Mifune. As we went through the double glass doors, I looked around. Anxiety began to fill my being. That's when I could tell that this whole summer was going to be _special. _Hopefully, that was a good thing.


	2. Alone

"So, your name is Breena? I heard that you came from an art college?"

"Yeah. The Samaritan College of Art."

"Oh. I've heard of that school. Is it any good?"

"It's alright. Good as any art school, I guess." Damn he's cute.

He chuckled, "Expensive, huh?"

"Ridiculously so." Oh, he's privy, too. "What college do you go to?"

"University of the Cloud." Shit.

"Talk about good schools! What's it like? "

He looked over the land casually. "Dull. Uppity. Fake. You know, standard university. Nothing interesting."

O-kay. His college experience isn't really typical. Shouldn't he be saying things like, 'fun' or 'crazy', while having an over excited look on his face?

"Darui!"

"Hey, Darui!"

"Wassup, Dar-Dar?"

A couple of kids yelled his name while we walked on the sidewalk, one of whom I recognized. He waved over to them, giving each one a specialized greeting."

"Yo, Lee! Kiba, my man! Wassup, Naruto? Or should I say, _Naru-Naru?_"

They all laughed at that. While the blonde one sheepishly grinned. "Okay, okay. I won't call you that anymore."

"_Please_."

The kid suddenly looked at me and continued, "- at least not in front of your _girlfriend_."

At that, his other two hormone induced friends giggled from behind and preceded to "oooh" to unison.

"Aw, knock it out guys. What are ya 'll, in pre-school?"

They sure act like it; although, the aspect of being Darui's girlfriend is very much desired.

The guy with the face tat's smirked. "Fine. But seriously, who's your hot friend?"

Hot friend? Did he just try to hit on me?

"Kiba! You cannot regard a lady in such a fashion." The bowl- haircut kid said to his friend.

"Oh?" Kiba crossed his arms, "And what do _you_ recommend, Lee?"

"I _recommend_ chivalry. How about asking the lady for her name?"

"Um, I kinda did."

"_Kinda_ does not cut it! Guy sensei always says-"

"Oh, here we go again! A word from the infamous Guy sensei! Why don't you just learn how to think for yourself?"

Lee gasped, "How dare you! At least sensei knows how to properly treat women! He is a good role model. Meanwhile you-"

As the two continued to bicker, Darui turned to me. "Sorry about that. They're not exactly subtle."

I smiled, "Don't worry. I'm more worried about them arguing over the issue, than the indirect approach."

"What? These guys?" He asked.

"Hey! Don't just get on me! What about Naruto? He called her Darui's girlfriend! That wasn't very _chivalrous_," Kiba retorted.

"What? Don't bring me into this!"

Lee turned to the blonde basket case. "Well, it was kind of in-appropriate, Naruto," he said calmly.

"Lee, don't you start too!"

Darui shook his head, "They're always like this. Anyway, we should get going."

I nodded, "Um, but what about…" I drifted off at seeing the argument seemingly escalate. He scoffed at the sight. "I got it. Yo, guys!"

The trio momentarily stopped, "Huh?"

"Gotta go. I'll see ya'll around. Until then, quit arguing. At this rate, you won't get any chicks."

"Okay!" They said in unison.

As we walked away, the teens continued their bickering, only stopping to eye every girl that walked passed.

"Wow. I've never seen anything like that before."

"Really?" He asked me. "I've been around people who love to start drama my whole life. I guess that  
>I've gotten so used to it."<p>

Unbelievable. An apathetic man like him is surrounded by drama 24/7?

"Is that why you came to this camp? If you don't mind me asking?"

He shrugged his shoulders again, "I guess. It does kind of get your mind off of the stuff going on in your life. You can interpret that as being a good thing sometimes, but other times… it can be a real pain in the neck."

"Why?"

"Well the whole camp's been in a whirlwind since last year, and though we were given some time apart, the wound has not been able to heal properly."

Un-healed wounds? I can totally relate.

When we arrived to a huge cabin, he stopped. Before I could ask anything, he turned towards me.

"Okay. Here's your stop. You'll be staying here from now on. This is a co-ed place, but still calls for separate bedding. So this is the Leaf women's cabin."

Aw, come on! What are we, twelve? We can at least share a cabin with the men! Shit! Now I'll never see what Darui looks like in his pj's.

"I would take you in, but I'm not sure if the other ladies would appreciate it."

"Oh, right." Shit. "But, what do I do after this? Just sit in the cabin?"

"Hate to say it, but yeah. Just until Hatake comes by to pick you up- and goodness knows how long that could take. He is never on time for anything."

Awesome. "I guess that I don't have a choice then." I took my baggage from him and slightly struggled before finding a nice balance. Then, I extended my hand out to him. He hesitated for a bit, before accepting and shaking it.

"Thank you, " I said.

"Ah, don't worry about it. I just took you to your cabin, after all. Besides, after meeting Hatake, and getting to know the in's and out's of this camp, I doubt that you'll be appreciative. I'll be seeing ya."

With that, he let go of my hand and walked away. It's actually kind of weird but, the way that he left reminds me of _him…_

But, I have to let go of that! I have to continue to move forward, or else, I'll end up like I did last year…

Ugh! Finally, I opened the cabin door, only to notice that no one was there. Hmm, must all be super busy or something. After walking past rows of bunk beds, I went to a section that had the label 'Volunteers'. Towards the back I saw noticed an empty bottom bunk, beneath someone's named Shizune.

I plopped my things down beside me, searched through my stuff for my phone. Before I dialed a specific number, I noticed that I had five missed calls from some of my friends. But at the moment, there was only one person that I wanted to talk to.

"Hey, mommy. Yeah, I know that it took a bit to call you. Sorry. Eh, it's pretty nice. Some weird people, but nice. How do I feel? Well… kind of anxious, excited, bored; but more than anything, **alone**."


	3. Unwelcomed Dream

"_Liam! Why are you acting like this? Did something happen?" Breena asked the tall and strikingly handsome man in front of her. "Are you angry because of those rumors? Because you should know better than to-"  
>"That's not it; to be honest, it's everything else," He said harshly, while combing his gel induced hair. "I don't see why you're becoming so emotional."<br>He walked casually over to her, while concealing something in his jacket sleeve. Each step that he took became creepy to her, as his black timberland boots strolled heavily in the snow. "-Because you knew at the get-go that you would get what was coming to you."  
>"But, Liam! You can't! Don't do this, Liam!"<em>

"Liam… Liam… you can't. Please, Liam. Liam."  
>It hit me when I forced my eyes open that the occurance was just a dream, and I had fallen asleep. This was an odd occurance, since I never nod off just out of the blue; to be honest, I actually had a difficult time sleeping at all nowadays. But, I'm think that I probably drifted off after that enduring conversation with my mom. Still….<p>

"Why would I be thinking about him again?"  
>"It's not that strange, considering that you were seeing him for a bit. It is normal, after all to think about your ex from time to time."<br>What the-  
>"-Then again, I'm just assuming that it was your ex that you were referring to."<br>For some reason, a strange man that looked like a mummy stood on next to my bed. He looked like some kind of diseased, quarantined freak that was trying to keep his disease to himself; his mouth was covered by a ninja mask, while the Leaf section's cloth 'headband' covered one of his eyes, while the other simply looked un-phased. His hair was able somehow to stick up and form a bizarre hairstyle. How he was able to pull it off, I will not concern myself with.

But the way that he stood over me, I got the feeling that he was someone in particular. "Mr. Hatake?"

He nodded in acknowledgement. "It's a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Miss Breena Jones."

"But, what are you-"

"Don't worry. I actually just came in. But, I before I could leave, I noticed that you were waking up."

"Oh, okay." That's not creepy.

"I normally don't come into the girls' cabin, but I normally don't wait for people, either."

"You mean that they wait for you, Mr. Hatake?" Shit, there goes my mouth again.

For some reason, however, he laughed and rubbed the back of his head.  
>"Ah, perhaps you're right. I don't really keep track of the time. That's always been my problem. So, it's actually me that owes you an apology."<p>

If I was standing, I would've probably fallen over. Usually adults that were older than me had a difficult time admitting their wrongdoings (i.e. my mom), but my senior by probably eight years was actually apologizing to me. I guess that what Mifune and Darui said was right- this camp is _special_.

Mr. Hatake took me for a stroll around the leaf's borders, whichc was pretty odd, considering that there were any physical bounderies restricting each area- it was just separated using colors.

"So, why is there such separation? I notice the different colors and insignia's, but I also see that a lot of the kids are still playing with each other. Just this morning, a couple of kids from other groups had different symbols on them, and they were able to play together."

"-And you see how that panned out."

I tried not to chuckle, "Darui said that my guide wasn't able to make it because of the 'violence' displayed in the game."

"Yep," his eyes grinned at me. "And believe me, there's much more of that to come. You'll see."

For some reason, I felt a chill come down my back. I don't think that was a good indication.

"-But for right now, I think that it'd be best for you just to get the hang of things."

"Like my duties?"

"Exactly."

"Well, lead the way, Mr. Hatake."

He chuckled. "You don't have to refer to me by my surname. I'm your senior by a couple of years. It's Kakashi."

When he turned to me after he said that, I could see the outline of his jaw, and for a brief second, it seemed like I was actually in the presence of a nice looking man. This realization kind of made me blush, so much so, that I had to look away.

Because the movement was a little obvious, I had to clear my throat to distract him. But, his mouth seam only stretched out more at that. Yeah… it didn't seem to work out too well.

"So _Kakashi_, you're taking me to the arts and crafts center now?"

"Nope. I'm gonna introduce you to the Leafs' leader, Miss Tsunade first."

We arrived at the soccer field, where a bunch of kids were playing a game. In the corner of my eye, I three other adults, one who could've been Yamato, juggle with getting some soccer balls to a bin. Meanwhile, another adult, who was actually a beautiful woman with blonde hair, was the referee on the sidelines. When she saw us, she blew her whistle for the game to stop momentarily.

"It took you long enough, Kakashi," she said whilst walking past some of the players.

"Well, you know how newbies are- Takes them a while to get used to things, which can inadvertently result in tardiness."

I gasped at his accusation. Wasn't HE the one that was late in the first place? But, before I could correct him, he turned towards me with a noticeable gleam in his eye.

So he's one of THOSE counselors, huh? Whatever.

"So this must be our new volunteer," the leader continued the conversation.

"Oh, yes, lady Tsunade, this is Breena Jones. Breena Jones, meet lady Tsunade."

I stretched out my hand, "Um, it's very nice to meet you."

She kind of looked surprised that I was being so formal, but pushed that back once she shook my hand. "You as well."

I smiled one of my charming smiles, in order to soften my first impression upon her, but for some reason, she saw right through that. Gently, she let go of my hand and said, "I know that it's your first day, however, I do not tolerate tardiness. Get adjusted quickly to this camp and always be prompt."

My gosh. What is she, a dictator?

"Yes ma'm; I will be."

"Good," she turned over to Kakashi. "Introductions are over. Please take her to her station."

He nodded, "Yes ma'm. Right this way, Breena."

As I walked towards a building, I saw Tsunade pull Kakashi over to the side. "Oh, and that tardiness rule applies to you as well, _Kakashi_."

He rubbed his head again and chuckled, "Yes ma'm."

When he caught up with me, he explained Tsunade's reputation. "Don't worry. Lady Tsunade isn't an iron fist ruler. She just likes things to be done a certain way. She can be a bit harsh, but it's for the better of the Leaf."

I nodded, "Figured as much. I mean, she has to be harsh; letting laidback dudes like you do whatever they want doesn't really benefit the camp."

"Ahh, I see that you have me all figured out."

"Not really," I returned. "I have a feeling that there's more to you that meets the eye- especially your get-up."

"You see, I actually have this disease that spreads all-"

"You don't have to lie about it. I mean, if you're comfortable dressed like that, then keep doing it. I personally don't have a problem with it."

Though he wasn't obvious about it, I knew that he was pretty impressed by my stance. I guess that no one told him that before.

A few footsteps later, and we arrived at another cabin, only this one was really small and junkish. It kind of looked like it was on the last summer of it's life.

"Here we are," he said.

"I have to work here? Is it safe enough? I mean, it looks so run down."

"Yeah, it should be. It's been around since the founding of this camp, and is used by all of the sectors."

"Really? Why is that? This camp is large enough to have at least five of these cabins added on."

He sighed heavily, "It's because it's the residing cabin of the former chief counselor, Hiruzen Sarutobi. Because of that, we are all fond of it."

"So then, the rest of the cabins around here were just built?"

"That's right."

"So you guys tore the other ones down because they were breaking down?"

He flinched. "Uhh… something like that."

He moved toward the door, "Come on. Our sector doesn't have that long until we have to switch with the Cloud. Besides, your students have been waiting."

I have students that have been waiting?

"Wait! I don't know what to do! I didn't even get a notice on what to teach!"

"Calm down. You're not really 'teaching', you're just 'babysitting' the kids as they work on their art."

"But don't they need some kind of direction or something?"

He shrugged. "It's not a big deal. They've got their supplies for the day as soon as they walk in. Lady Tsunade plans the activities, you just supervise."

He turned the doorknob and creaked it open. "Come on, a woman like you can do this. Start with your introduction, and ask for their names and an interest, such as their goals or what their into."

Ugh. I hate introductions when professors do that in college. I don't know if I could make someone else go through that kind of torture.

He gestured for me to go inside, "Ladies first."

After a little hesitance, I got the nerve to move. He came in after me, and seemed to be enjoying the nervousness that I was exuding.

As soon as I entered, I saw a couple of teens, sitting patiently and awaiting instructions. I was surprised that there weren't that many. After all, art class was known for being the class to goof off and conversate a bit with friends. I guess that art had gone out of style a bit, who knows.

Kakashi leaned over to me, "Well go ahead and introduce yourself."

"Right," I shook gently from my headblock. " M-my name is Breena Jones. And I'm going to be your art teacher for the summer. Please introduce yourself starting on the… left, include your goals as well." I looked a Kakashi for approval, and he nodded. At least I did that right.

Everyone turned their heads to the far left corner, where there was a familiar boy gleaming at his chance to speak. "My name is Naruto Uzumaki, and my goal is to become the next chief counsiler of Shinobi Camp!"


	4. What's in a Name?

"I'm sorry… did you just say that you want to be the next chief counsiler?"

The blonde teen looked at me sternly, "That's right. You heard me."

"Of this camp?"

He nodded at the question, waiting for me to take the bait and inquire futher…

But I didn't. "O-kay. Next person, please."

He almost fell out of his seat at my coldness and seemed surprised for some reason. "I-is that all that you have to say?"

"Well yeah. If that's what you wanna do, go for it."

And at that moment, everyone looked at me in disbelief- like I didn't even fathom what the hell I was talking about. I shrugged off the awkwardness that the group was trying to feed me and proceeded. "Let's move on, shall we?"

I peered over at Kakashi, who seemed a little impressed; not that I knew why.

"Fine. I'll get this over with," a wry, sarcastic kid with black hair tied up in a ponytail let out. "My name is Shikamaru Naru. My goals are to get through another summer here and try not to do anything that will be an utter drag."

I whispered to Kakashi. "Well he's just brimming of sunshine, isn't he?"

"Don't worry about him," he whispered back. "He's always like that."

Well, at least he won't be bothersome.

The chubby guy next to him chuckled while munching on some chips. "My name is Choji Akimichi and my goal is to not starve to death this summer. This camp never has enough food."

-Because you eat all of it.

"NEVER call him fat," Kakashi whispered again. "That's a death wish."

I lifted my eyebrow slightly, "O-kay." I thought it better not to ask. "Next person."

A quiet kid looked up from his desk. "I'm Sai. My goal is… to make my art matter."

At that, everyone looked over at him in question. Seemed like a deep kid.

"So Sai, do you have a last name? I didn't get it."

He looked at me, "Just Sai is fine."

"Alrighty." Correction: deep _and_ weird.

"Um…" A raven haired girl with big, pale eyes started. "M-my name is Hinata Hyuga and my goal is…." She caught a quick glance at blondie and slowly continued. "… to try harder." As she looked down at her lap, her long, dark hair fell over her shoulders.

Oh boy, this one is gonna need a good confidence booster.

Before I could even dig more into Hinata, a pink haired chick spoke. "I'm Sakura Haruno and my goal is to become a great doctor."

"Doctor?" I asked. "Aren't you supposed to be in a science class or something?"

Kakashi spoke, this time so that everyone could hear. "We closed our science center last year."

She nodded, "this was the only activity left that I could take."

"Lucky me," Naruto said seductively.

The kids 'oohed' at that comment, while Sakura looked less than pleased.

"Looks like you've got an admirer, Sakura," a long, ponytailed blonde, said.

"Shut up, you pig!"

"Don't call me that, billboard brow!"

"HEY! We won't be having this between you two this year," Kakashi intervened. "You two know that you can't have anything else blemish your record."

For some reason, that calmed both girls down, and they muttered a respectful, "Yes, sir."

Sigh. Just when I thought that this place couldn't get any more troublesome.

"Ino, introduce yourself properly," he ordered.

"Yes, sir. I'm Ino Yamanaka and my goal is to become a doctor _and_ an expert florist, just like my mom."

Sakura rolled her eyes, "Of course you wanna be a doctor as soon as I say it."

"Ha! You got that idea from me, billboard-"

"ENOUGH!"

Kakashi's stern stance made everyone, including me, stop in our tracks.

"Unless you two can get over this shameful rift, you are going to have to be separated. We don't want for things to get as bad as last year."

Ino stood from her seat, "But _that_ happened only because Sasuke-"

She stopped in mid-sentence, like a realization prevented her from saying anything further. And as I looked around, I noticed everyone else grow somber from that bizarre mentioning.

" We all know what happened last year; but now it's time to move on. This is a new summer, and it's time to learn from all of our mistakes."

Ino nodded and sat in her seat. "Yes, sir."

The counselor glanced at me and continued. "Now I want for you to reflect your lessons onto Miss Jones. Don't give her a hard time about anything."

He then peered in the corner, "And Naruto…."

The blonde teen looked at his superior, visibly upset, "Yes?"

"It's time for you to move on as well."

Naruto nodded, "Right."

Though I couldn't tell what they were talking about, I had a feeling that it had to do with some kind of betrayal or something.

"Okay, well I'm going to take my leave now," He patted my shoulder. "Breena, I leave this group in your capable hands.

WHAT?

"But, wait a minute," I pleaded, but he interrupted me.

"The art supplies is in that big, black wardrobe in the corner."

I turned to look, and as sure as fuck, it was there.

"Now, why didn't I notice that before," I thought out loud.

"Alright, be seeing you."

"But-"

He opened the door, walked out quickly and SLAM! He left before I could even –

"Ahem."

That dry kid made obnoxiously cleared his throat to get my attention. He got it alright.

I looked at him as uninterested as he looked at me, "Do you have a problem? Mr…"

"-Nara. Shikamaru Nara."

"Riiiight. Mr. Nara, do you have a problem?"

He lazily shook his head, "Not really. I was just wondering what you had planned for us today."

I was taken aback at that roundabout of a question.

"-'Cause if you don't, then we can leave right?"

"Shikamaru!" His chubby friend harshly whispered. "Be more respectful."

I actually started to walk over and knock that disrespectful, sly look off of his face, but decided against it, when I realized that he did have a point. I actually didn't know what to do with them. I wasn't told anything.

"I'll be right back." I walked over and opened the door. But before I went outside I added, "Do NOT leave." I warned, and even gave Nara my signature look of death. It seemed to work, because he straightened up a bit in his seat like he was unsettled. Heh heh. It works everytime.  
>~*~*~*~*~<p>

I literally ran around the Leaf's grounds like crazy, looking for that cool, mummified dude. How dare he leave me with those kids without telling me what to do! When I see him, he's going to get the iron claw, dammit!

I looked at the surrounding cabins, just to make sure that I was still in the Leaf's area, which was surprising. I didn't know that this camp was that big.

"Breena?"

I knew that voice.

I turned to him. "Darui. Hi."

Damn. Of all the people that I had to run into during this moment, it had to be his fine ass and… his friend?

"Are you okay?"

I nodded. "I was just looking for someone, and I can't seem to find him."

"Wow. You've just been here for a couple of hours and you already have a boyfriend, huh?"

What? No way! The only guy that I'm thinking about right now is you, baby; at least, that's what I wanted to say. But it's too soon for that, and besides, I don't want to appear desperate.

I laughed, "No. I'm just looking for Kakashi."

"Oh. Well, good luck with that one." His blonde friend interrupted.

"No one can ever find that guy when they need him."

"Yeah, I'm beginning to see that. I didn't know that he was this bad," I mumbled.

Darui quickly noticed how unfamiliar we were to each other, and introduced us. "Sorry. Breena, this is my best friend, Shee. Shee this is Breena."

"Brina?" Shee mulled.

"No. It's pronounced Bree-in- uh," I corrected.

"Oh, I see. It is Irish?"

"No. I don't think so." Why does everyone think it's Irish?

"Anyway," Darui interrupted. "Breena is stays at the Leaf compound, and as you can see she's-"

"-obviously a newbie." Shee joked. "Considering how you give Kakashi the benefit of the doubt."

I laughed. "Yeah. But give me a couple of days, and I'll get used to this place- disappearing acts and all."

"Trust me," he said. "You'll _never_ get used to this place. We're still trying. And when it comes to Kakashi-"

"Ah, come on Shee," Darui intervened. " You know that guy has work piled up to the ceiling."

His friend chuckled. "Oh? And which ceiling would that be, Darui? Our sector's ceiling? Or the Leaf's gold encrusted, lower one?"

"SHEE!"

That had to be the first time that I could sense the open tension between the sectors. But still, I took the bait.

"That's a messed up thing to say."

Shee looked at me in ignorance, "No, what's 'messed up' is how lousy the rest of us get treated compared to the Leaf."

"Shee! Don't push your referendum's onto her. She just got here, dude."

At that, Shee quickly realized himself. He shook his head and quipped a soft, "My apologies."

Darui looked at me to say something. Shit, his eyes were practically begging.

"Um, yeah. Don't worry, Shee. It's no problem."

He nodded at my acceptance and turned to his friend before he walked off. "I'll see you back at the gym."

Darui yelled out to him, "Yeah. See you there."

Seriously. What the fuck just happened?

"Sorry about him," Darui interrupted my disturbed thoughts. "He has some temperamental moods sometimes."

No shit! That guy just went from 0 to 60 on the anger meter in like, five seconds!

"He's not like that all the time. In fact, he can be so obedient and professional that it's just ridiculous."

I nervously laughed. "Is that so?"

Seriously, is that so?

"But he did have a point about Kakashi. You can never find him when you need him; yet, he shows up at the right time."

What?

He noticed my puzzled look, "I know it's hard to believe. But, it's uncanny how perfect his timing on personal stuff can be. That said, you should probably try to fix whatever it is by yourself."

I had a feeling that he would say that. "Alright, I'll try."

"Don't worry. Mifune wouldn't have assigned you to where you are if you didn't meet the prerequisites. He has faith in you… and the rest of us do, too."

It's a good thing that I'm brown skin, otherwise, you could probably see my cheeks blush. "Thank you, Darui."

He nodded, and scratched the back of his head. "Sorry, but I should go. Shee going to the training gym, and if I don't get there quickly, he'll probably hurt himself, and mess up some of the equipment."

"Wow. He's that strong?"

"Uh… no. He's not."

"Oh…"

He looked off to the side, "Yeah…. But, I'll see you later, huh?"

I smiled, "Uh, yeah. See you later."

With that, he quickly sprinted after his friend- containing more energy in each stride than he had a couple of hours ago.

Damn, he's cute… and responsible; which was what I was not being at this point. I mean, I am only a couple of months away from being counted officially as an adult, and I still had childish patterns.

As I looked around at the unfamiliar grounds, I wished that I could go back to my dorm and call my mother for comfort, but I had to stop. I had to stop postponing and excusing experiences that could develop me into the woman that I dreamed that I could be. I couldn't put it off any longer- I… have to grow up.

"It's about time that you returned, new girl," that little blonde brat- I mean, kid, chimed as soon as I got in.

I tried not to let that vein in my head protrude too much as I corrected him. "Uzumaki, my name isn't 'new girl'."

"Well, I can't call you Darui's girlfriend, that's for sure. 'Cause you sure ain't that."

"How about my name, which is Miss Jones?"

He thought for a minute, "Nah. I think I like new girl better."

WHY THAT LITTLE-

"He has a point," The weird kid gave his two- sense before I could hurt his classmate. "Saying your last name isn't really 'personal' to us, at least that's what the book I read recommends in order to become more accommodated."

"Besides, you don't seem that much older than us," the blonde ponytailed girl assumed.

"Fine. My name is Breena."

The fat kid seemed baffled. "What? Brina?"

And here we go again. "No. It's pronounced Bree-in-uh."

Nara asked, "Is it Irish?"

"NO IT'S NOT IRISH!"

All of them drew back in their seats at that.

"I apologize," I said calmly. "No, my name is not Irish. My mom decided to be creative with my name and that's how I got it. Don't ask me why, because I don't know. But, what I do know is that it's mine, and I have to live with it for the rest of my life. So, let that be a lesson to all of you. When you grow up and have children, name your kids after something that actually has meaning."

The room went silent after my odd, insecure ramble, which was something that I didn't expect. I actually believed that they would probably laugh, but instead I got:

"Well… my parents named me after a food dish. So, I guess that your name isn't uh, that bad," Naruto mumbled out, while rubbing the back of his head.

I froze in shock. Did that cocky, annoying, hormonic teen just try to make me feel better?

" Besides, I think that it's cool that your mom wanted to give you a name that wasn't as ordinary as others. It means that you're identity is really different from the rest."

Wow. Fat- I mean- Akimichi gave me a compliment? "Um… thank you-"

"Choji," he finished for me.

I grinned, "Choji, right. And uh, Naruto?"

"Huh," he became startled.

"I bet that the food you're named after isn't as cool as you."

He grinned at that, though I don't know why. Shit, it was REALLY corny of me to say, but whatever. But this cheesiness actually gave me an idea.

"I've got an idea of what we can do today."

I walked over, got some supplies out of the big wardrobe, and began passing them out to everyone. The rest of it was placed on Sai's desk, since he was sitting in the middle.

"Okay. I want for you to draw, paint or create something that is based on your identity."

I became excited as they began to sit up in their seats and become interested. "It can be anything, such as a… paintbrush to represent that you are an artist. Or even a stethoscope, to represent being a doctor."

At that mention, Sakura and Ino smiled.  
>I continued, "Anything that you want to be, the essence, or at least, some of who you are go onto that piece of paper. The rest of the supplies are on Sai's desk."<p>

I winked at him, "If you need anything go over there, or ask him."

That was one way to get rid of his shyness.

"So, we can draw anything?"

"Yes…_Shikamaru,_" he was surprised that I remembered his name. "You can draw anything."

"You mean, that we're actually doing work today? What a drag…"

Yet another person that isn't energized.

"Don't worry," I assured him. "The time will go by faster this way."

He still looked uninterested. "Whatever you say."

"Hey, Sai. Pass me the orange colored pencil, will ya," Naruto kind of asked.

"Uh, sure."

Sai quickly found one and threw it over.

When Naruto caught it, he got busy on his work after whipping out a quick, "Thanks, buddy."

Sai looked like he didn't know how to take the friendly gratitude. "Um, you're welcome _buddy_."

He whispered the last part, as if he was unsure that he should say it. It was kind of cute, actually. But in a way, I had a feeling that Sai was just misunderstood, as were the rest of the kids.

"Uh Breena? I have a question," Choji requested.

Maybe this whole volunteer thing wouldn't be as bad as I thought… but, just **maybe**.

"O-kay."  
>~*~*~*~*~<p>

Kakashi, Tsunade and Mifune looked into the art cabin through the windows from outside. Mifune grinned at the sight before him.

"See? I told you that she could handle being the new art instructor. She just had to get the hang of it."

Tsunade shook her head and sighed irritably, "It's only her first day, sir. You don't know how she'll be for the rest of the summer."

He laughed, "Have some faith, Tsunade. I know a good apple when I see one."

"But sir, based on what she did last year, I don't think that she's stable enough to do this job. What if she goes off the deep end again? Our camp can't afford bad press."

Before he could even respond, Kakashi did for him. "She won't. I beg your pardon, Lady Tsunade, but this girl seems to be most unlike the rest of the volunteers that came before her. I believe that she's stable enough to do this."

"**Stable enough?** Do we want to take that chance?"

"We're gonna have to," Mifune came back into the conversation. "Orochimaru and his lackeys haven't given us a choice. We need all the help that we can get."


	5. Steam

"I don't know if you want to show this to everyone, Naruto."

The blonde looked at me in disagreement. "Why not?"

"It's really different. Besides, I told you to draw something that you felt was your identity- not draw something to show your identity!"

I looked down in both amusement and bewilderment as I saw my student's project. It was nothing other than a picture of him, colored in to make him look like an ancient clown. Seriously. White and red lines were drawn over his face, and he designed his expression to look exaggerated.

"But you told us to design what we felt we were identified as. And for me, this is it."

"A clown?"

"No! A warrior!"

"A warrior? I haven't ever seen any warriors look like that."

He narrowed his eyes, "A cool warrior. From ancient times."

Wow. This kid just kept getting weirder and weirder.

"Alright…" I said. No need in cutting off the poor boys imagination. That was one thing that he had going for him.

I nodded at him and proceeded to check around at the other art work that was being done. But, I quickly noticed that someone in particular wasn't really doing anything.

"Shikamaru? Why aren't you doing your work?" I walked over to him to get a clear answer.

"I did." He didn't even look at me when he said that.

I got a little ticked off, due to the lack of respect, but calmed myself down for a few seconds.

"Fine. Prove it," I demanded. This time, he did look at me.

And his eyes didn't waver off of me as he flipped his blank sheet over to reveal drawings of clouds in the sky.

"Here," he handed the paper to me.

"Clouds in the sky? This is your identity?"

He nodded, "think about it. When you watch the clouds, what do you feel?"

I thought for a second, "Um… at peace. Tranquil…. Comforted?"

"Well, there you go."

He sat back, and put his hands behind his head, closing his eyes. I gazed at his best friend to get an answer, but he just shrugged his shoulders.

"Ugh," I let out. There was no point in arguing with such an apathetic person. But, I was still just trying to figure out why he chose this class, if he wasn't going to put some energy into it. The question boggled me, and I gave up on trying to find an answer. So, that was it.

"Does anyone know what time it is?" Naruto asked.

"Uh… um... i-its 3:55," The quiet girl answered him.

"Thanks," he flashed his charming grin.

She blushed, "Y-you're welcome."

I couldn't help but smile at the bashfulness of her. Wait, what was her name? I looked over at my clipboard with all of the names on it. Hy-Hyuga? Her shyness was adorable, especially when it came to Naruto. But other than that, she seemed like a sweetheart- though her self confidence was much to be desired. She didn't say that much, but when she did, she spoke so softly; like she wanted to be careful of her word choice, or something. And if she wasn't worried about that, she was careful to draw any other attention to herself. But one thing that she did do so far was take quick glances at Naruto. It was painfully obvious how much of a big crush she had on him. I can tell, and I know that the other kids can too. I just wonder if Naruto knows.

He appears be a bit of blundering fool, but I have a feeling that he knows a lot more than people think that he does. Hell, he probably has the most potential out of everyone in here.

"Hee hee hee," Naruto chanted as he colored in his own picture.

…. That's a **big** probably, though.  
>~*~*~*~<p>

Shee and Darui walked out of the shower stalls feeling refreshed. Their unintentional, vigorous work out challenged their bodies in the way that they hadn't experienced in a long time. Their muscle shirts clung to their bodies in the most sensual ways, while their heads remained a bit damp from the dampness in the stalls.

As if he realized how the two of them looked at that point, Darui ushered out a tired, "Dude, we need women."

His friend nodded his head, "agreed."

The duo walked casually out of the gym, taking precaution to not stumble over some equipment or try out another activity, lest they become stinky once again.

"Thanks for working out with me, man," Shee quickly said, as to avoid any kind of mushiness.

Darui knew him too well, and simply accepted the gratitude. "No probs. I needed to burn off some steam."

"Well, I hope this 'steam' doesn't throw off your professional work." Darui held the door open for them to exit.

He smirked at the comment made by his serious friend and co-worker. "Don't worry about me. I've got it covered. But what about your 'steam'?"

Shee looked innocent at the accusation. "What do you mean by that?"

Dar laughed, "Simple. You almost bit the head off the new girl's head earlier. Your beef with Kakashi has gotten worse."

He inhaled sharply at remembrance of his mistake. "I know, I know. You had to bring it up, didn't you?"

"Yep."

He grew somber. "For what it's worth, I didn't mean to snap on that girl like that."

"I know that, and she seems to understand too."

"And I did apologize!"

Darui smirked, "yes you did. You're getting a little better on your chivalry."

Shee's eyes narrowed, "You're not being serious, are you?"

Trying not to laugh, Darui looked over to the side and covered the snicker over his mouth. "Now, what makes you say that?"

"Ah, well, if it isn't Shee and Darui," a friendly voice said.

The two looked over to see their senior from another sector. Dar grinned, "What's up, Deidara?"

A blonde- haired young man walked over to the duo. His clothing was dark, just like the two friends, but slightly tighter.

"Nothing much. I've just been looking for you guys all day."

Both feigned shock, "us?"

"Ha-ha very funny."

He paused before looking at Darui, "You know that A is looking for you."

"Me? How do you know?"

"Eh, he's been throwing a tantrum. Hell, we can hear it on our side of the camp," Deidara quipped enjoyably.

Darui grew somber, "There's nothing unusual about that."

"True. But, this tantrum is a bit different."

"Meaning?"

"Word has it that Bee disappeared."

Shee gasped, while Darui simply rolled his eyes. " _Again_, there is nothing unusual about that."

Deidara laughed at the youth's apathy, while Shee became appalled.

"Come on, D. You know that this isn't something to joke about. This time he could really be in danger."

"Whatever," he simply responded.

"Anyway, it was my turn to work as the assistant to Mifune, and he asked me to send Darui to A, before he destroys 'something too expensive to properly fix'."

"Gotcha. Tell him that I've got it handled," Darui said as he turned to head in the direction of the Cloud.

A sneaky look came over Deidara as he happily retorted. "Oh, well as of right now that's not my responsibility anymore."

"Huh?"

"My other task was to get Shee to replace me as the assistant."

Again, Shee gasped, "What? I thought that you had it today?"

"Nope! I'm off! Gotta take care of that 'urgent' scare at the Mist. Mifune's all yours today, buddy."

Shee looked as though he wanted to cry, while Darui expressed concern. "By the way, is everything alright over there?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah," Deidara suddenly remembered the events that happened over the past two days at his sector. "Everything is alright. Can't let you know the details."

"Understood," Darui said. "It's just that I was led to think that the incident wasn't that bad; but then I didn't see you at the office this morning, and I became concerned a bit."

"Oh, yeah! For the new camper right? I know, I was supposed to actually escort her from the bus stop to the office."

"Yeah, Yamato dropped her off, while I showed her around."

"Uh-huh… so how is she? I heard that she's pretty hot."

Darui answered lazily, "Yeah, she's pretty cute. Seems like a cool chick."

"_Seems_? What's wrong? Was she quiet when you showed her around the camp? Must be a shy girl, huh?"

Shee intervened, "Not really. When I met her, she seemed outgoing enough."

Again Deidara answered with an "Uh-huh."

He looked over suspiciously at Darui. "Well, how was she with you D? I mean you had to have at least an hour with her, what with touring the whole camp and all. Was she really _outgoing_?"

"I… didn't give her a tour."

Both Shee and Deidara asked an unbelievable "WHAT?"

"I know, I know. I'm horrible."

Ever the utter professional, Shee quipped, "But, that was your duty!"

The laziness still never left Darui's eye. "Yet again, I know."

At that, Deidara narrowed his eyes. He knew there was something more to this. Granted, no one **really** did their specific tasks around the camp, especially the volunteers; but tours were ways to get away from the same atmosphere that was endured all day. It gave the tour guides time away from the overly repeated routine that was kept all summer. And, it also gave the guides room for meeting new people, seeing the other groups, and more importantly: slacking off.

"So what? You went back to work?" Deidara asked.

"… Yeah."

Shee calmed down a bit, "Oh, well, at least you went back to work."

Darui looked off to the side, "Yeah. You know me. Always keep it professional."

"I sense a bit of sarcasm there, but still, explanation received,"

"Speaking of professional, Shee, I think that you should get to Mifune. He was sleeping when I left."

Shee became unfazed. "And? That's normal."

"True, but he has a couple of important meetings today. " Deidara got closer to him, "I mean like, _important-_ important .Like, money for the camp, junk food enriched, and possible alcoholic refreshments for us workers on weekends- important."

A gleam appeared in Shee's eyes, and he ran like the wind for Mifune's office.

Deidara yelled after him, "RUN MAN, RUN!"

Shee did just that, leaving a trail of dust in his wake.

As Deidara laughed at his naïve friend, Darui interrupted his crude humor.

"You know you're wrong for that, Deidara. Besides, there's no way that the old kage of the Stone would condone that. What with going against tradition and all…"

"Huh. True. But let the boy hope. We both know that he needs it, if he's going to square off against Kakashi."

Darui narrowed his eye and glared at Deidara. "Don't say that."

"Do _you_ think that he has a chance?"

After a pause for a couple of seconds, Darui looked to the side. "Whatever. Anyway, what do you want? You had some reason to send him off."

"Well, it's just puzzling, that's all. You're lazy, that's for sure, but you're not at all negligent."

"Mm-hmm," the brown skinned dude pushed for his associate to move on.

"And, well, I was just wondering what's changed."

Darui placed his hands in his pockets, "Nothing's changed. I just didn't feel like doing that tour."

"See? That's the thing! We both get along because we hate doing things. We like to chill and relax. But, one thing that you do that I don't is actually go through with your assignments. I mean in a way, you're like Shee on weed- always obeying with a major sense of apathy."

"So?"

"So? You're the laziest, productive person that I know, besides that one kid with the ponytail from the leaf- he's just a freak. But you? Not so much."

Darui shrugged his shoulders, and stared at Deidara, while the other guy didn't flinch a bit under the glare.

Darui exhaled, "Fine."

Deidara smiled a bit after finally getting his friend to confess.

"What happened, then?"

" Don't act like you don't know. I mean, I know that there have been vicious rumors floating around. Then again, it is the reason I almost got kicked out the Cloud U. So, I guess that it is kind of shocking."

Deidara's eyes widened. "You mean… that woman?"

D shifted his gaze from the sky to his peer and nodded at the question.

"Yeah."

"_Dude_, you know that's dangerous. Not only is she an assistant counselor, she's-"

"I know who she is!"

Deidara yanked himself back at Darui's sudden outburst. Never before had his friend ever risen his voice at anyone before. When he noticed this, Darui calmed down and ran his hand over his face to cool down.

"Look, I'm sorry man. But I'm VERY aware of what kind of position I'm in."

"But what does that mean?"

"You know what it means, dude."

Deidara nodded in understanding. "Alright. That's fine. You do what you have to do. So then, I take it that others are in the know?"

Darui struggled, before looking down at the ground, and facing his friend after a couple of moments. "The only ones who know are you, the rest of the group leaders, and Mifune."

"You mean that even Shee doesn't know?"

"That's right."

This, again, wasn't part of Darui's nature. He was pretty much an open book, and didn't feel the need to house secrets- he felt that they were nuisances.

"Well, you don't need to worry about me telling."

"Good."

Deidara smiled, as he enjoyed toying with his opposites feelings. It gave him some sort of satisfaction. "So, if I know and Mifune knows, when did you plan on telling everyone else?"

"I didn't."

"Oh, well that's a mess."

"-Or rather, I can't."

"What?"

Darui stepped over to the right a bit before continuing. "It could kick me out of school, or better yet, this camp."

"Ah, well that does make sense," Deidara mused. "After all, you don't want to be too far away from your girl, right?"

At that comment, Darui didn't say anything. He let his hair overly cover his left eye, while the right seemed to be submersed in an invisible heavy substance of some kind. He turned away and began to stroll away from his confronter, but not before Deidara made another inquisition.

"Don't worry, man. No one is after her. But since she's taken, I guess that I can look into other… aspects."

Darui stopped, "Who did you have in mind?"

"Eh," Deidara muttered lazily. "I don't know. There's not many grown women in my camp. Everyone is either too young or too old. I think that I'll venture elsewhere."

Rolling his eyes slightly, Darui continued on his stroll. "Whatever. Knock yourself out."

"Alright! I'll take your word on that."

"Sure, sure."

"Well, I think it's about time that I take a walk over to the Leaf."

Just as Deidara took a step to leave, Darui slid in front of him.

"What are you planning?"

Not surprised in the least at his peers' speed, Deidara feigned innocence. "What? I just wanted to go visit my good friends in the other sector. Chill."

"No, you chill. I know you too well, and I know what you're planning. That girl hasn't been here for a full day and already you're making your move."

"Dude. I haven't even met the chick yet. She may not even be my type."

Darui's stance still never wavered, and it was kind of uncharacteristically stern.

"What's your problem? Think that I'm gonna try to sleep with her?"

"Yes," Darui answered honestly. "It wouldn't surprise me. That's what you've done with the others."

"Ooh. Someone's hating on someone else's game. I can't help it if girls just fall for me off the bat."

"Of course you can't. Because none of the women that left had anything to do with you, right?"

"That's right."

Still not flinching, Deidara gave up. "Fine. You can keep that counselor and that new girl to yourself. I heard that she was a mental case anyway. No need to trouble myself."

"I don't want her and she isn't a mental case. Mifune said that she just had some anxiety issues."

At that, Deidara laughed. "Of course he said that."

He began to walk away- this time, in the direction of the Hidden Stone. "Just remember, dude. Chicks aren't worth that much trouble."

As he watched his associate walk away, Darui, shook his head and turned in the opposite direction. "Douchebag."


	6. The Schedule

**A/N: Sorry for taking so long to update, guys. My old computer stopped working, so I had to give it up. Unfortunately, the latest chapters that I wrote were on there, so I basically had to start from scratch.**

**Btw,**

**Meow and Andromeda- Thanks so much! I really appreciate your sweet comments. They really mean a lot. **

"Hmph," Shikamaru grunted after glancing at the clock on the wall. He began to organize the sheets of paper, and colored pencils that he and Choji used to do the project. Although his friend was clearly taken aback by his abruptness, he allowed for the pony tailed guy to clean up their area.

"Um… Shikamaru? What're you-"

He apathetically looked at me before resuming his cleaning duty. "You heard Hinata. It's 3:55. Almost time for class to end."

"Oh," Shit. I'd been so flustered today that I forgot to ask someone when class was out.

But, as if on cue, the others began to clean and organize their things as well. Kind of hurriedly.

When he was done, Shikamaru grabbed his bag and headed out. "Hurry up, Choji. "

"Right!" the chubby youth exhaled before putting some supplies in the cabinet. As he grabbed his bag, he walked over to me, "Is it alright if we leave, ma'm?"

Suddenly, the others stopped packing their things to await my answer. "Sure… I guess. But, leave your projects on your desk. I'll come by and get them."

He smiled at me as he left, "Alright. Bye, Ms. Jones!"

I found myself smiling at the kid's respect towards me. It was kind of nice to be treated as a superior; although, I couldn't quite get used to being called "Ma'm" or "Miss".

Seconds later, the rest of the class followed behind them out the door.

"So Sakura," Naruto squandered over to his crush. "What do you say that we have lunch together, huh?"

She grinned evilly, "Well, that's fine. But, you're buying."

He nodded excitedly, "Sure, sure! No problem!"

Sakura waved at me as she left, while Naruto, still smitten, forgot that anyone was nearby. Ino playfully flirted with Sai, as Hinata looked a bit forlorn.

I shook my head. All of them had different personalities, so it would be interesting seeing how they would mesh together for the summer.

As I walked around the room to collect the assignments, I specifically focused on Nara's "Cloud Identity." The kid's a little weird and a bit disrespectful, so at the moment, the last thing that pops into my mind when I think about him is some clouds.

Meanwhile, Naruto, the class clown, seemed to be about right when it came to his own mural. But, I had to admit that the kid did have spunk. If not anything else, he has spunk.

"So, I see that you did a very good job for your first day?"

Motherfu-

"Kakashi!"

He stared at me with his stupid eye, the only piece of face that I could actually see, and gave me that look that asked, "Whatever could I have done wrong?" Piece of-

"I was looking for you! Like, all over the place! Where the hell were you?"

He rubbed the back of his head, "Sorry. I had some… pressing matters to attend to."

I glared evilly, "My ass! What about my pressing matters? What about sending me into a class with a bunch of students without a lesson plan? I had to make one up off of the top of my head, and it was totally lame! I was so freaking unprepared that I forgot to ask you what time this class is dismissed!"

"4:00."

"No, duh! That moody Nara kid told me. And, how much of an embarrassment is that? For a teacher to ask the student what time class is dismissed? It should be the other way around. You know, keep the natural order of things in tact!"

I pointed at him, "You've messed up the natural order!"

He quickly put up his hands in defense, "Uh… sorry?"

I loudly exhaled and put my hand on my hip in a signal that read, "You don't wanna try me right now."

In my calming down, it sounded as if he was chuckling a bit- not that I cared. He totally messed up our professional relationship with each other. The whole day made me painfully aware that I couldn't depend on him this summer.

I walked over to my desk and placed things in their respective places, before I stacked the assignments neatly and held onto them.

Suddenly, I felt something warm surrounding my hand. It took me a second to realize that the older dude was enclosing my hand in both of his palms.

He held it up to what I'm presumed to be his mouth, and smoothly ushered out, "I'm sorry."

What?

"You're right. I should've been more supportive to you today. "

He paused, as if he wanted for me to sense his sincerity or something. When I didn't say anything, but instead, put the cynical look back on my face, he quit the act.

"Come on, I've never done anything like this before. Heck, I don't even apologize."

I slowly took my hand back and rubbed it. "Well, what's done is done. You can't take it back now."

He rubbed his chin, "Usually, I'd have women fawning over me for that, but you're just too cool."

"Look who's talking Mr. "I don't even apologize".

I slipped past him to the exit. He followed me outside, after closing the door.

"Touché'," he quipped, as he caught up with me. "Maybe I'm a bit new at this…"

"_Maybe_."

"Or, maybe you would've fawned if Darui did that instead."

I stopped in my tracks.

He had me. Damn it, he had me.

I turned to him. "How would you know?"

"Eh, might've caught a glance of you two, along with Shee talking."

"And?"

"_And_ it looks like he has you sprung."

I quickly glanced around to see if anyone was in sight to listen. A couple of yards away from us, there were kids that seemed to be too busy playing to pay attention to us, as did the adults that were watching over them.

"Riiight. Because you know me so well? But, what were you doing anyway? I thought you had _pressing_ matters to attend to."

He shrugged, "I passed the two of you while I was doing my errands. You were just so nice to him…"

I rolled my eyes.

"… Compared to how you treat me," he said empathetically, waiting for me to correct him.

I swear, this morning when I met this dude, he wasn't as annoying. Or was I just not paying that much attention?

Still, I can't just talk to my superior just any kind of way- especially on my first day.

"Kakashi-San."

Although he was stoic, I could've sworn that I saw him cringe a bit as I said that.

"Thank you very much for teaching me how to … teach. But, right now, I have a couple of papers that need the utmost care, a raging head ache, a rumbling stomach and a bunch of questions that need to be answered. I would appreciate if you would help me with those."

As if lost for a second, he nodded when he saw how stern and serious I was. "Alright. Let me show you to the clinic, then. We can take care of that headache first."

* * *

><p>Darui took his time strolling through his campsite. He stopped here and there to watch the beauty of nature, then, tiring of its horizontal boredom, resumed on his trek. Along the way to his destination, he caught sight of some of the campers playing weird made up games that even they couldn't quite comprehend, but did anyway to pass the time. He smiled at the utter random and weirdly creative abilities that they had to distract themselves. It actually kind of reminded him of how Shee and he were when they first attended the camp years ago in high school. Both were such punks, who just wanted to chase every skirt, laugh about everything, and try to grow up fast so that they could be the ones' that were upholding the rules instead of following them.<p>

For a good while, the teens chased after the adult life; wanting to escape the safe, pretty world that their rich families provided for them. And they chased, and they chased, and they chased, until finally, or rather, unfortunately they reached their goal. Little did they know how much they'd have to sacrifice for it. For Shee, it was his beautiful imagination and assurance; while for Darui, it was his innocence and purity.

As his footsteps began to trump all of the noise that he was filling in his head, he shook himself out of the emotional hole that he was digging for himself. That was a while ago, he told himself. Things would be different now. Totally different….right?

"Darui! Thank God you're finally here!"

Before he could turn around, he felt the stress that the person was radiating. But, then again, he knew that worried tone from anywhere.

"Kika. I see that you still haven't gotten used to A."

Little droplets of sweat spread as the long, purple haired woman began to feverishly shake her head.

"I take it that you heard?"

He nodded, "Yeah. Just take me to him."

* * *

><p>"So, what do you think?"<p>

"It's actually not that bad."

"Really? It doesn't feel rushed?"

I shook my head, "Not at all. It was really tender."

"Good," Kakashi said as he played with his own bowl of ramen. He smiled at me (or at least, I think he did), content with my answer.

I smiled back, as I waited anxiously for him to take off his stupid mask. I mean, there wasn't any reason for him to be nervous, considering that we were the only two in the cafeteria. Actually, correction: the two of us and-

"What do you mean, 'Does it feel rushed'? Are you making a crack about my food, Kakashi?"

-The chef and her dad.

"What? No!"

The brunette haired woman put her hand on her hip, "Well then, what're you trying to say? Is it over cooked or something?"

Okay, I know that he has on a mask and everything, but I swear that I can see Kakashi sweating.

"No, no, Ayame. It's as good as it always is."

"Good? It's good? Just good?"

Kakashi put up his hands in protest, but nothing escaped from his mouth, almost as if he was at a loss for words.

"Ugh! I knew it! I knew that I didn't broil the noodles as long as I should've! The chef's at the medieval camp would've never taken the noodles out so soon!"

"But dear, "her father intervened. "The chefs' there didn't cook ramen."

"That's not the point, dad!"

Unintentionally, I caught myself kind of giggling at her passion for her craft- or for her dramatics; whichever one made me seem like less of a bitch. But, when I felt that nudge on my arm, I knew which one Kakashi thought that I chose.

"Um, listen Aimee," I started.

"It's Ayame," she said, a little appalled that I got I it wrong.

"Right. Sorry. But, this is actually really great."

A twinkle appeared in her eye, "Really?"

Eh… it was alright.

"Really. I mean, I'm not too big on ramen, but this is the best ramen that I have tasted."

"You actually mean that?"

I nodded and grinned at her.

She smiled and her confidence shot back up. "Well, if you thought _that_ was good, wait until you see my other specialties!"

"Can't wait."

Actually, I could.

She happily walked to the back, where the kitchen was to resume work, while her father stayed behind.

"Thanks for that, young lady."

"Um…No problem."

"Sometimes my daughter can get a bit carried away with her work."

Suddenly, as if on cue, loud bangs of pots and pans erupted from the closed- door kitchen in the back.

"Nishi! Matsu! How many times must I tell you? You have to SEPARATE the soup from the noodles! Not cook them together! That's for AFTER it's done!"

Just a bit?

"She's still working on her professional and personal attitude," he continued. "But sometimes her passion gets the better of her."

No kidding.

Kakashi swiftly stood up from the table we sat at and subtly bowed to the master chef. "Thanks for the meal, Teuchi-San."

What?

I looked at his bowl, only to see it very, very empty.

What the hell? He ate all of that within seconds?

"No problem, Kakashi. It was our pleasure to serve you and the new talent to the camp."

The freak looked down at me as if nothing amazing or record breaking had just occurred.

"Ready, Breena?"

"Uh… yeah?"

As he swiftly walked towards the double doors to go outside. I stood up and looked to Teuchi with confusion.

He smirked, "Freaky, right? If you want a good look at his face, you're gonna need a lot of luck."

"…riiiight."

When I got to the doors, he opened one for me- carrying a gleam in his eye that showed that he knew how much of a gentleman he was.

"Thanks."

"Of course."

When we went back on the field, I stretched out a bit. The sun's warm rays engulfed me in a toasty pick me up, as nature around me began to get a little prettier.

Beautiful.

The meadows that surrounded us were rimming with life- whether from the human or animalistic kind. Trees were swaying slightly in the wind, while cute little squirrels and chipmunks scurried to gather food that their providers tossed off of their limbs.

Okay, now I know that I'm sounding so corny and mushy, but for a city girl, seeing all of this nature was actually a feat for me.

"Questions?"

I turned to my escort, after being caught off guard. "What?"

"You said earlier at the art cabin that you had questions."

Surprised that he remembered; even if it is a convenient time. "Oh, yeah.

"Well for one," we began walking for a bit. "How many days do I have to teach class?"

"Four days a week, every other day, two hours a day."

"Wow. I thought that I would have to do it every day."

"No. Mifune and the others don't want to torture you. Besides, we have to make room for the other sectors' activities.

"Huh. "

Something still didn't add up though.

"Kakashi, why are tensions so high between the sectors?"

He looked at me, with what I assume was supposed to be his surprised face. "What do you mean?"

"The kids were in a hurry to get leave, even before class was properly dismissed. And before you say it, I'm pretty sure I wasn't _**that**_ boring."

He smugly tried to hide his chuckle before saying, "That hadn't slipped my mind."

"**Sure **it hadn't."

"I'm serious."

"Whatever."

"To answer your question, there's been a feud between the sectors for a while now."

"Feud? What kind of feud?"

He rubbed the back of his head and began to trail off, "Eh… let's just say that you'll learn when the time comes."

"O-kay," he was just making my curiosity surge. "Answer me this though, does this have to do with uh… Sammy? Sony? Uh… Sauci?"

"Sasuke?"

There ya go. "Yeah, him."

He paused before hesitantly answering, "…yes."

"So, I take it that he was once camper for the Leaf?"

"Yes."

Ooh. Looks like things are a bit more interesting than I thought.

* * *

><p>"So, no one has seen him since last night?"<p>

"Nope," Mabui, Cloud Sector A's assistant, answered Darui.

The two, along with the exasperated Kika and dramatic A were in his office.

Darui shook his head, "Knowing him, he's probably gone to the next town or something."

Kika gasped, "No! He couldn't have left the camp!"

He looked lazily at her as he said, "I don't see why he wouldn't have. It's not like he hasn't done this before."

Mabui nodded, while Kika continued to freak out.

"But, he'll come back, right?"

Mabui sighed, "Kika, you're new here, so you don't understand Bee that well."

"So… what're you saying? He does this all of the time?"

Dar and Mabui answered, "Yep."

She calmed down before answering a quiet, "Oh."

He looked to his Sector leader, who at the moment, was holding off on another rampage. Instead, he was sitting behind a smashed desk (the fifth today), staring outside of his office's window. He had a stoic expression on his face and actually seemed to be thinking more than watching the scenery. Right now, A was calming himself down and strategically putting things together in his head. And although Darui hated it when he did this, he knew at least where the leader was headed with his emotions.

"Mabui- San, Kika-San, if you wouldn't mind, I think that I'd like a moment with him," he said seriously.

Kika objected the request. "But Darui-"

He shook his head to her panic and quickly reassured her, "Don't worry; I've got it."

Before she could agree, Kika was pulled out of the office by Mabui, who seemed to have tremendous strength, despite her petite, fragile appearance.

When Darui heard the door close completely, he stepped closer to A.

"Alright, they're gone. "

"About time," was all that the huge body builder could muster up. "That Kika girl is an annoyance."

"Eh. Just give her a chance. She'll get used to you and your family's antics in no time."

A stood from his chair, "Well she'd better soon. If she was better at adapting, Bee wouldn't be missing now."

"That's what you get for letting a newbie handle a mission of utmost importance."

"No, that's what I get for letting IDIOTS look after one person!"

Darui rolled his eyes, "Blood pressure, sir. Doctor recommended for you to keep your temper in check."

He looked over at the pile of smashed desks, "And from the look of it, you've been doing a great job."

Suddenly, A punched a hole in the wall beside him. "WELL WHAT DO YOU EXPECT ME TO DO? HOW THE HELL CAN I STAY CALM WHEN I HAVE SUCH MORONS WORKING FOR ME?"

Darui exhaled, "And here we go…"

"I ONLY ASK FOR PEOPLE TO KEEP AN EYE ON ONE PERSON, AND THEY CAN'T EVEN DO THAT!"

"Blood pressure, sir."

"HOW HARD IS IT TO BABYSIT ONE DAMN PERSON? IT'S NOT THAT HARD TO DO! IT'S ONE DAMN PERSON!"

"Sir, that person is Bee, though."

"AND?"

"He's impossible to look after. He's always running off somewhere, or doing something that he shouldn't. Not to mention the rapping-"

"WHAT ABOUT IT?"

"Sir, it's annoying, and he does it all of the time."

A calmed down a bit, "It's not THAT annoying."

"Uh, yes it is. And you can't stand it. That's why you've hired over 30 people to look after him since he came here to visit, and all of them have quit."

"Only thirty people? Huh, that's not bad."

"He's only been here a week, sir."

A pondered about it for a moment, "Oh, yeah."

Darui shook his head, "Anyway, I think that we should take a break on this search."

A hesitantly agreed, "Fine."

* * *

><p>Bree and Kakashi casually walked into Mifune's office. She smiled as she started to remember the events that took place this day. And, it all started in this very building.<p>

He opened the door that led to Mifune's office and playfully bowed, "After you."

I smiled gently, and walked inside of the room. Mummified freak is beginning to be a little less annoying…

When I re- focused on the room, I noticed that no one was there.

"Huh. Old dude isn't here."

Kakashi looked around, "Guess that he had pressing matters to attend to."

I raised an eye brow, "Guess so."

He walked over one of the two chairs in front of the desk, and sat down. I followed suit after turned his head to me and said, "No use in standing."

In all of my years on earth, I swear that I'd never been or heard of a camp this… different. The campers and the counselors all acted so casual and un- interested. They all seemed like they had something better to do with their time and didn't really want to be here. The sectors thing was a little more complicated than necessary, and the whole place seemed to be riddled with secrets. What the hell kind of camp was this? Certainly not one for "youngsters with vast imaginations".

When I snapped out of my deep thought, I noticed Kakashi staring at me. He chuckled, "Trying to make sense of today?"

"Uh yeah," I nervously giggled.

"Don't get think too much about it. This camp is just…"

"-_Special_?" I grinned.

He smiled, "Yeah. Special."

We both giggled a bit, and slowly the giggles turned into full laughter. The funny thing is that this was the first time that I'd actually fully and genuinely laughed in a while. This past year had taken so much out of me that I forgot how joyful it was to laugh. It's a big accomplishment for me to say the least. Thanks to this place, it looks like I'm going to be-

"Looks like you two have made yourselves comfortable."

I almost yelped at the sudden interruption. I calmed myself down as the Chief counselor swiftly walked past us to his desk.

I coughed up what was an accidental gulp of the last of my laughter. Kakashi stood up from his seat to come over and pat my back, as It almost felt like I was about to choke on it.

Mifune, meanwhile, looked unimpressed as he sat down.

"So… I take it that you got through today alright, Miss Jones?"

I gasped for air and cleared my throat when I calmed myself down. "Uh… yes, sir."

"Good."

I began to sit upright, as I tried to straighten myself up.

"So, I take it that Kakashi has answered all of your questions?"

I cleared my throat again, "Yes, sir."

"Alright. Well, since dinner was over an hour ago, the campers should be getting ready for bed."

"Dinner? When?"

Kakashi leaned towards me, "What we heard a while ago was the signal for dinner."

"You mean that alarm? I've been hearing those all day."

"Those signal the meal times."

Mifune rolled his eyes and took a sheet out of his desk drawer. He handed it to me and said, "Schedule."

I looked down at the paper, shocked to see proof that this place actually had some organization. It read:

Kishimoto Shinobi Camp

8:00 Rise and Shine  
>8:30 Clean Cabins<br>9:00- 9:30 Breakfast

9:30 Meditation

10:00 1st Activity Class  
>12:00 Lunch<br>12:45-2:00 Free Time  
>2:00-4:00 2nd Activity Class<p>

4:15 Sports/ Recreational Activities  
>6:00 Dinner<br>6:45-7:55 Free Time  
>8:00-8:55 Reflection<br>9:00-9:40 Clean Up  
>9:45 Lights Out<p>

I looked over at the clock behind Mifune. It was already 9:00!

"Do you have any questions?"

"Yes, sir. What is reflection?"

He blinked slowly, "It's when the campers tell their volunteers what they did that day and how amazing their experiences were."

I narrowed my eyes at him in disbelief, "Really?"

He shook his head, "It's actually spent with the campers gossiping, pulling pranks on each other and lolly-gallying until they have to go to bed."

I grinned, "Thought so."

He shrugged his shoulders, "That schedule hasn't been changed in over 10 years. We thought that there wouldn't be any kind of harm in keeping it. Worked out so far."

Wow.

Kakashi took this time to hand the old dude the papers that my students had done. As he flipped through each of the papers, he did his version of a smile. "Job well done, Miss Jones. You are dismissed."

I popped my eyes out of their sockets, "Really? That's it for the day?"

He nodded, "You may return to your cabin."

I hesitantly stood up, "Oh. Well uh… thanks, sir."

I don't even know why I thanked him. I guess it's what I believed should've been said in this situation.

"By the way, Breena-"

I stopped in my steps, "Uh, sir?"

He grinned, "From now on, you check in with Tsunade for all of your daily tasks. She is responsible for the plans for each day for the Leaf."

So I have to check in with that PMS woman every day? Goody.

With that, I walked out of the office, before graciously nodding towards my superiors and shutting the door.

When I walked to the girls' cabin, I heard a wallow full of laughs. The lights from inside shown hypnotically through the dark of the night, and before I even contemplated it, I was turning the knob, and opening the old door.

As soon as I stepped in, I saw a woman sitting on a bed, while being entertained by one particular girl who was in the middle of the floor, telling an excited tale.

"-So Lee ran over and accidently crashed into Gai-San. It was hilarious! Both of them were definitely seeing stars!"

The room erupted with laughter at the girl's tale. Hell, they were laughing so hard I could distantly see tears come out of their eyes.

It was weird, but even I began to giggle, even though I didn't know what or who in the hell they were talking about. The laughter was so infectious, I guess, that I couldn't help myself.

"What happened next, Anko?"

A short haired woman asked.

"Well, Gai started to-"

"Um, excuse me?"

Both were caught by surprise at my interruption. Hell, the other chick almost fell off the bed.

The crazy one who told the tale said- a rather rudely, "Yeah? What do you want?"

I tilted my head back a little bit, before giving her the same attitude that she gave me, "I'm new here, and I belong to the Leaf."

She blinked a couple of times, not able to comprehend the simplistic fact of what I said.

"You?"

She walked over and searched me over with her eyes. When I didn't flinch, she was visibly impressed and raised an eyebrow in interest. This is when I stopped being rebellious and started being weirded out.

"Anko, stop giving the new girl the third degree," the brunette said as she hopped off of the top bunk.

She walked over to us and gently put her hand on my shoulder, "Kakashi told me about you. Welcome to the Shinobi Camp's Girls' cabin."

Boy that was a mouthful. "Uh… thanks," I said with a nervous smile.

She smiled back at me before grabbing my hand and taking me towards the back. Between brief steps, she continued to speak. "My name is Kurenai. It's nice to meet you."

"It's… nice to meet you to! I'm-"

"-Breena. I know. Again, Kakashi told me all about you."

I hope not.

"Way to welcome her with open arms, Kurenai. You are way too trusting," the creepy girl said a couple of steps behind us.

Kurenai rolled her eyes, "Ignore her, Breena. Kakashi also told Anko about you. She's just being a bitch right now because –"

"Kurenai!"

She giggled a bit as we both began to sit down on my already-claimed bed.

"No problem," I said. "Actually, it's kind of refreshing for me not to get the special treatment just for being a newbie."

"Yeah," The beautiful brunette said. "You'll see that 'special treatment' over here isn't really an option."

For some strange reason, Anko began to chuckle evilly at the comment. I squinted my eyes at her.

"Again Breena. Ignore her."

Suddenly, the door opened and all of us glanced to see who was walking through.

"Oh boy. Today has been a hell of a day," the woman said as her tired footsteps proceeded towards us.

When she came to the back, I was shocked to see that it was none other than the passionate chef girl.

She moaned as she massaged her neck.

Anko grinned, "Tough day, Ayame?"

She nodded as she turned directly to her friend, "First, the boiler gave us problems, so then we had to cook our noodles by using the stove. Then, the dufus brothers act as if they have never been able to serve soup to our customers! They kept spilling it, and falling down every time they walked. It got so messy, that I finally had to clean up the mess myself! But I couldn't get everything organized because I was so busy arguing with Naruto over the proper way to make ramen, that I didn't even have the time to give Lady Tsunade the meal that I made just for her! I worked on that creation all week!"

All though I didn't find anything really funny, the two beside me were cracking up at their friends' reenactment of her horrible day.

"That's all? Usually, it's a lot worse than that," Anko said, while trying to keep her composure together.

"Screw you, okay? I really _did_ have a bad day," she said defensively.

Anko giggled as she walked over to her bunk, "I know, I know."  
>Ayame rolled her eyes as she untied her hair.<p>

"Whatever, you guys."

She finally noticed me, while she began to relax.

"Oh. It's you. Kakashi's friend."

I nodded, "Nice to uh… see you again."

"You too," she smiled as she walked over to Anko's bunk. She climbed to the top bed, sat down and began to change clothes.

The door flew open, and in burst a group of girls, followed by the crabby woman that I met earlier and a girl who was near my age.

I smiled when I recognized my students from earlier today. The funny thing was that Sakura and Ino were actually joking around with each other now, while Hinata was quietly speaking with a blonde frazzled girl. A brunette doubled- bun girl followed behind everyone, smiling at the fun that her peers were having.

"Ladies," Tsunade yelled. As she did so, everyone halted what they were doing. "It's lights out in 30 minutes. By that time, all of you better be in bed. I should be back by then anyway."

The woman, whom I assume to be her assistant, sauntered over to her. "Lady Tsunade, the meeting-"

"I know, I know. I'm on my way now," the highest up rolled her eyes. "But that still doesn't take back what I said!"

All of the girls boisterously shouted, "Yes, ma'm!"

She grinned in pride at the amount of respect she was shown, before peering to the back, and noticeably seeing me.

"By the way," she walked over to the volunteers' side of the cabin, before pointing directly at me.

"This girl is going to be the new volunteer here for the Leaf. Treat her with respect, or else you will be dealing with me!"

I was so embarrassed that I tried to hunch over a little, to become less noticeable.

She noticed this, and gave me an order, "Well, stand up!"

Without even thinking, I did as I was told.

"Say your name!"

I sauntered, "Um…o-okay. I'm Breena Jones."

She repeated my name before saying, "I expect for all of you to treat her respectfully."

"Yes, ma'm."

"That's means you too, Anko," she said as she squinted her eyes.

Surprisingly, the rebellious woman agreed. The way that she nodded, I would've thought that she was almost afraid of her.

As the leader of all left, the room became enlightened again. Sakura and Ino walked towards me, bringing the rest of the girls with them.

"Miss Jones!" Ino said happily. "We were worried that we gave you a bad impression."

I shook my head, "Of course not. You guys were really welcoming to me."

"Good," Sakura chuckled. "We didn't want for you to leave like the other of the art teachers."

I took a step back at that comment and repeated, "-The other art teachers?"

"Uhh," Kurenai muttered as she pulled the other girls toward me. "Moving right along, Breena. This is Ten-Ten," she said as she pointed to the double bunned cute girl.

"-This is Shiho," the flustered blonde girl waved at me in response.

"Lastly, "Kurenai emphasized. "The secretary woman over there is Shizune."

"Ha-ha, Kurenai," Shizune said sarcastically as she bowed to me.

"Nice to meet all of you," I bowed as well.

When the introductions were obviously over, Anko spoke swiftly to the teens, "Alright, alright. Now that that's out of the way, girls you should go get washed up before bed time. You heard our leader. Only got thirty minutes."

"Yes, Ms. Anko," all said quietly, before grabbing some things from their spaces, and walking out the door once again. Kurenai, Shizune and Anko hesitatingly followed the group, with their own supplies in hand.

I smiled at them, before getting ready for some sleep. I quickly changed into my overly big t-shirt that I'd gotten from my college. It was so long, that it stopped short of my knees, which was the way I liked my sleepwear. Besides, it was beginning to be unbelievably hot, so it looked like my sleep wear preferences actually helped me this time.

"Aren't you gonna take a shower, _Bree_?" Ayame asked sleepily from her bed, before laying down as well.

I shook my head. "Nah. I'll take mine in the morning."

She grinned, "Too lazy?"

"Too tired. I guess that it's the travel lag that's gotten to me."

"You're not alone. My dad and I just got here a couple of days before you, and I'm still out of it from the trip-"

Suddenly, a loud thump hit our door, followed by a counselor yelling, "NARUTO! DO NOT GO INTO THE GIRLS' CABIN!"

Ayame shook her head slightly, turned her head to the door, glaring, before continuing, "-And _other_ things."


	7. What the Hell?

The next morning, I woke up to the sounds of brushing. After a moment's hesitation, I rolled around in my bed, and faced the direction of the noise. All of the girls were sweeping and tidying up everything in the cabin. I slowly got up to sit in my bed and narrowly escaped the pain of bumping my head up against the upper bunk.

"Time to get up, newbie!"

My eyes wandered over to the grinning Anko, who was seemingly in high spirits. "It's already 8:47. We've got 13 minutes until breakfast starts."

Shit. I could even smell myself.

"But…uh… shower?"

"That's why it's best to shower at night. You're too sleepy in the morning to brush your teeth, put on your clothes and do any other morning rituals to take a shower as well." she said with a grin. "Time management- you should learn about it."

I tried to resist the urge to glare at the morning troll that was already giving me a lecture before the hours were in the double digits. I should learn about time management? Heh. I'm perfectly awesome with time... as long as it's after 12:00 P.M.

I took a lazy glance around at the empty bunks near me. Ayame, Kurenai and Shizune weren't here.

"Uh where's-"

"Ayame already went to work. As for Kurenai and Shizune, They went to see Tsunade."

I blinked a couple of times, "What for?"

She shrugged, "I guess to see what the assignments would be for today? Talk to her about some concerns? Be ridiculed for an early morning wake up? Don't really know."

Can't really imagine why anyone could see the bitch before even getting the stomach to handle her presence in the morning.

"Hurry up and take that shower, girl. We need escort the kiddies to the cafeteria."

I looked around, "But what about-"

She nodded to towards the girls, "We've got the cleaning duties for this morning. Just be on your shit more."

I nodded before standing up quickly and gathering the clothes that I planned on wearing for the day, along with toothpaste, a toothbrush, soap and my loofa.

"Thanks," I said before heading out. But as I stepped out of the door, I'd realized that I'd forgotten…

"Hey Anko? Where's-"

"It's the white building on the right. Left side is for the women."

"Thanks."

* * *

><p>After my shower had been taken, teeth had been brushed and hair was properly put up in a bun, I went back to the cabin. When I got inside, all of the girls were gone, except Kurenai and Anko.<p>

Both were sitting on Anko's bed, looking through a box. When they saw me, they shook their heads.

"What?"

Kurenai sighed, "You're late. Shizune had to take the girls to breakfast, in addition to completing her morning tasks."

I rolled my eyes before looking at the clock on the wall. "I took the quickest shower I could. It's only a little past nine."

She shot me a dirty look, before standing from the bed. "Breakfast started at 9:00! It doesn't matter how fast you got dressed. Truth of the matter is that you failed to get dressed and handle your responsibilities at the correct time!"

... Wow. I've never been told off like that by a co-worker or what have you. But, now isn't the time to get upset and snap back. I have to be calm and approach this with maturity...

Eh. Fuck that.

"Well, shit! If you guys wanted me to assume responsibility and pitch in, why didn't someone wake me up then? I just got here fucking yesterday! I didn't absorb the stupid fucking schedule. Shit, I've hardly absorbed being here!"

Anko loudly winced at my response, before turning to the obviously surprised Kurenai.

I guess that I overdid it a little…

I exhaled lightly a few times, before going to my bed and throwing my stuff on the bed. "Look, I'm sorry that I'm so late. It won't happen again."

After silence for a few awkwardly long seconds, Anko smiled at her friend. "She is right, Kurenai. We didn't wake her up early. This is about as much her fault as it is ours. It is her first morning, after all."

The older woman crossed her arms in defiance, not saying anything.

Anko nudged her lightly. "Kurry, stop being so stubborn."

"Fine," she said. She looked up at me grudgingly. "You promise this won't happen again?"

I held up my right hand in a feign swear. "Promise."

She grinned at my jovial response. "Fine."

I smiled at the two, sensing that we mended our fences. "I'll go relieve Shi-Shi"

Anko laughed, "-Shizune?"

"Yeah. Sorry."

I threw my shirt and unmentionables on the bed, before turning around to the door. "I guess that I'll see you guys at breakfast."

"Uh…you can't wear that, Bree."

Say what? I turned to the both of them. "Why not?"

"There's too much skin showing."

What?! There wasn't a lot of skin showing! All that I had on was a cute brown mini skirt, a coral pink tank top and some sandles.

"How is this showing too much skin?!"

Anko walked towards the two of us, "You're showing too much leg."

"-And you're showing too much boob!" I pointed out.

She quickly peeked down at her tube top and shrugged, "Agreed."

Kurenai sighed before walking back to Anko's bed. "None of us are allowed to wear our normal clothes here anymore. It's not just you two."

Kurenai took out two articles of clothing from the box and handed them to me.

"Here."

I unfolded both of the garbs, and frowned when I saw the complete ensemble.

What the hell?

The shirt was a forest green buttoned up polo shirt, with a small leaf emblem on the left side. The shorts were plain, beige and seemed to stop short of the knees.

"We've also got skorts, in case you want to show your flirty side," She said sarcastically.

I held both of the garments in my hands and stared blankly at the both of them.

Seriously, what the hell?

Anko shrugged again, grabbed a shirt from the box, and put it on after taking off her trench coat.

"Um, Anko? What about your tube top?" I asked.

"Eh. I'll keep it on. Don't feel like putting on a bra."

O-kay. Let's just pray that she doesn't run around the camp today.

DING! DING! DING!

Kurenai looked down at her watch, "9:10 on the dot. Alright. I'm gonna go to the cafeteria now. You know how Lady Tsunade is… "

Her friend simply nodded. I actually didn't know how she was, but then again, I really didn't want to get the chance to get to.

"Anko? What about the shorts?" She asked her junior.

Anko shook her head before looking down at her mini skirt and tights. "No need."

Kurenai rolled her eyes before grinning at her, "How like you."

Anko laughed, before her friend left the cabin.

I stretched and prepared myself to face the monstrosity that was the uniform. I looked at both pieces of attire and leveraged both of them, like they were on a weighing scale.

"It's just clothes, right?"

I nodded to myself and began to change into my own new wardrobe. When I was finished, I modeled a bit for Anko before asking, "How do I look?"

She slowly eyed me up and down before saying, "Meh."

I smiled, "That'll just have to do then."  
>After walking over to my area where all of my stuff was, I shoveled through a bunch of my stuff and took out a pair of hot pink tennis shoes out of one of my bags.<p>

"You're gonna wear those?" Anko asked.

I grinned at her before I sat down on my bed to put on my shoes. "Yep. Why not make a fashion statement on my first full day here?"

She put her hands behind her head and attempted to relax, "Now you're getting the spunk, newbie."

I was glad to see that I hadn't lost it within the past 24 hours.

"By the way," I said while tying my shoe laces. "Is Tsunade gonna freak when she see's us wearing our own style of the uniform?"

"Nah. I doubt that she likes the new dress code anyway."

I stood up. "Well then, why is she going along with it? Because Mifune said so?"

Anko shook her head, "Something like this is probably an order from the investors that own this place. They probably forced Mifune to agree to it."

"O-kay. But why? Mifune seems too laid back to do something awful to cause for this to happen here."

"He is. And it wasn't his fault. They just wanted for this camp to be put under strict guidelines because of what that Cloud sector dude did."

"-Cloud sector dude? "

"Yeah. You'll probably see him around sooner or later. He always helps out Mifune, and is like the Cloud's elite volunteer. Hell, the leader over there treats him like he's a son or something. But, I forget his name…"

Cloud dude? And he's a volunteer?

"I think that it's like Damien ,Darren or Rory or something…"

… And I thought that I was horrible at names.

"Uh… Do you mean, Darui?"

She snapped her fingers. "That's it! Darui! Darui! I swear I always forget that guys' name…"

….O-kay.

" So… what did he do?"

"Oh! Well apparently he-"

DING! DING! DING!

Shit!

"Hmph. That's the last warning for breakfast." Anko patted her skirt before heading towards the door. "We'd better get going."

Son of a bitch.

She held the door open for me, signaling towards the outside. "Come on. "

* * *

><p>As Darui and Shee made their way to one of the cloud sector tables with breakfast platters in hand, Shee couldn't help but notice how his best friend was noticeably twitching.<p>

"Uh, dude? You alright?"

Darui grumbled as they sat down across from each other, "No."

Shee began to arrange his food dishes and take them off of the tray, while occasionally looking over at him. "What's up?"

"This uniform. It's too uncomfortable."

Darui arched his eyebrow as his friend began to chuckle, "What?"

Shee smiled gently, "Nothing. It's just… it's nice to see that you're still the same."

"What?"

"Well, you know last summer when everything happened, I was just worried that you'd gotten too serious."

"Serious? Me?" The black man smirked as he began to arrange his own dishes off of his tray and onto the table. "-And you're complaining about it?"

"-Whatever, dude. You know what I mean."

"Uh no, dude. I don't."

"Rebellion," Shee rolled his eyes as he took a bite from his rice dish. "I'm saying that it's nice to see that you still have that inside of you."

Darui chuckled. "That isn't gonna change for a while, man."

"Good."

"Yo, Darui, Shee. What's up?"

The Cloud duo looked grimly towards the intruder who was currently (and unwelcomly), approaching their sector's first table. Darui rolled his eyes towards his friend who was sitting across from him, while Shee suddenly began to get tense.

Obviously sensing the attitude the his latest prank victim was displaying, the blonde, ponytailed man sat down next to him.

"Aww Shee-Shee, still mad at me?"

"Well" Darui said in between bites of his meal. "You did send him on a wild goose chase."

"Ugh! For the umpteenth time, I said that I was sorry! It was just a joke, eh?"

The dark skinned youth looked at his best friend, who was visibly fuming. Making the situation worse, Deidara would pretend to snuggle close to Shee. Although it wasn't like Deidara had done something like this before, the jokes were slowly and surely beginning to become a bit tiresome. And, though Shee would have ample reason to knock the crap out of the prankster, Darui feared that he'd be the one to actually snap first.

"Alright, what's the deal?"

"What? What deal?"

"Come on. You've graced us with your presence twice within less than 24 hours. You've already made the trouble. I guess that this time you want to spread it now?"

Deidara feigned gasping, putting his hand over his chest to dramatize the action. "Sir Darui, I have no idea of what you are talking about. Why, I'm shocked that you would think of me as being the problematic friend in your life!"

"-We're not friends," Shee interrupted. "Not even close."

"Wow. So now you're saying that I'm not your friend?"

"Never was."

Deidara smirked. "Whoa. That really hurts, Shee. I thought that we were just starting to get to know one another."

Darui stopped chewing, before looking his fellow camper dead in the eye. "Deidara, I won't ask again. What the hell do you want?"

The blondie looked at the two intently, before sighing heavily and saying, "Okay, okay."

"Finally," Shee quipped.

"ANYway. I thought that you should both just know about the news."

"-News?"

"Yes, and I'm just so happy about it."

Shee narrowed his eyes at his new enemy. "Deidara, is this about being your day to teach your art class?"

Darui chuckled, "I thought that you hated doing that?"

"I do," Deidara grunted. "I mean, if you saw what those imbeciles who are also known as my 'students' put on a canvas, and then have the nerve to call art, you'd hate teaching it too."

The Cloud friends looked at each other again, before smirking.

"Once again, ANYway," He rolled his eyes, while trying to get the two to take him seriously this time. "Word has it that along with the uhh… new uniforms," he tried to loosen the collar of his new dark brown polo shirt.

" -There will be additional changes around here."

"Like…?"

"Ooh! I don't think that you wanna know. I mean, you might get a bit upset."

Shee slouched over the table and sternly whispered, "Too late. Already 'a bit upset'."

Darui nodded, "Agreed. Besides, if you're gonna play games over something that we don't already know about, then you should just leave. Actually, you know what? Just leave."

"Uhh! I swear you guys take the joy out of torture!"

"Deidara," Shee grinned. "The only thing torturous about this whole engagement is the fact that you're here."

"HEY!" The ponytailed cutie yelled. "I'm over here to share some very important information! I could've just kept it all to myself!"

"Then PLEASE do that very thing. You're beginning to get on my nerves."

"And your heavy breathing on my food isn't really helping out things," Darui muttered.

Just as he was about to say something, Deidara paused, and chose against it. He stood up from the table, eyeing the two friends down before muttering something under his breath, and leaving the table all together.

Darui shook his head as he watched him walk down the aisle to his sector's section. "You think that we were a little harsh on the guy?"

"Nah," Shee said as he took a bite from his plate. "I think that we let him get off a little too easy, if you ask me."

"Well, what do you think the 'news' was?"

Shee shrugged. "Who gives a damn? After the new dress code, I doubt that anything else can be bad."

* * *

><p>As soon as Anko opened the door to the cafeteria, she gave the signal to follow her into a line that was on the side near the wall. The line led into a room, where I take it that the food was, and exited out on the other side of it.<p>

I noticed that the sector perimeters weren't as harsh as I thought they would be. There were only signs on the tables, which showed the insignia for each sector, to indicate where everyone was to sit. I couldn't see which tables were which, and didn't know which sectors were assigned the colors. But, there was some obvious tension within here. The sector tables were spread a bus' length away from each other, which gave testament to how huge this cafeteria was.

"You okay?"

Anko almost scared me out of my own skin. She giggled at my dramatizations before repeating the question.

"Yeah! Just looking around…"

She leaned in close to me. "Crazy, isn't it? Sectors?"

I nodded, "Seems ridiculous."

"Hmph. Imagine being here for the past couple of years and actually enduring this. Trust me; it's past the point of ridiculous."

"I can't even imagine."

Seriously, I couldn't.

"So, think that you can adjust? You seem a bit out of it," She looked at me, unimpressed.

Shit! I'm already being established as the weakest link here!

"Oh, yeah! I'm fine! Just, you know, trying to absorb everything and shi-stuff."

She shook her head before giggling again. "You act like no one here has ever sworn."

"No! I know that there are some people here that cuss. But… there are kids here…"

"-And? Hell, they're the ones that curse more than any adult. No need for you to sugarcoat things for them."

"Really? Wow."

"Yep. It's one of _those_ types of camps."

I smirked, "Well, then I might actually like it here."

When the line moved forward, she quit talking to me and faced forward before walking towards the room.

Before I could even resume my observation, I heard a door open a couple of feet behind where I was standing. A set of footsteps came through the door, until both stopped behind a couple of seconds, I suddenly felt a heavy hand on my shoulder. I jumped up a bit in surprise and let out a quiet yelp, before turning around and facing my mummified superior.

"Kakashi?!"

Anko turned around quickly after my yelp. "What the-"

When she looked over me, she saw the older man waving sheepishly. "Breena."

A gleam shined through his eye as he then tenderly said, "Anko."

A chill visibly went up her spine before she quickly faced forward and tried to escape his attention.

"O-kay," I said before going back to my human pest. "I would've picked you to be the one to skip breakfast. You just don't seem the type to keep up with customary meals."

He raised his eyebrow at me. "Gave you that much of a bad impression, did I?"

I didn't say anything as I walked forward in the line. Clearly, this guy didn't absorb my bluntness from yesterday.

He sighed when he noticed that I wasn't going to ask again. "To be honest, I'm actually trying to avoid something."

"Wow," Anko said. "It must be a pretty bad something if it causes you to be prompt for once."

He hung his head before mumbling, "Even my juniors don't seem to respect my authority."

"Just calling it as I see it," she said matter-of-factly.

"Don't you always?" He asked, still visibly hurt.

She shook her head as we finally made our way inside of the serving room. Ayame, bless her heart, was there, serving out ramen and other food to her customers. She looked a bit tired and annoyed, as though she was barely keeping her patience intact. When the three of us got our trays and silverware on the side, she noticed our presence. She even straightened up slightly, keeping her cool.

"About time you guys showed up," she mumbled to us over the glass separating us from the food.

"Newbie hasn't quite gotten how things work around here," Anko hinted, winking at me.

I elbowed her playfully on the side. "Way to put me out there, tattletale."

She shrugged. Clearly, she was an instigator of consequence.

"And you, Kakashi? I'm surprised you're here for breakfast."

He lowered his head once again. "Boy, the lack of respect around here is contagious."

"Actually," she said while pouring ramen into three bowls. "The only reason I say that is because I haven't seen Gai - you know, the enthusiast of the first meal of the day?"

Both of my cabin mates gave the older man a suspecting look. He only slightly flinched underneath the glares, but maintained his stance.

"Maybe he decided to skip?"

Ayame stuck out her tongue at him, while she handed him his soup. "I'm sure."

He smiled disarmingly as he grabbed his food and skipped over us to leave the room.

Anko laughed. "Guess that he's had it with those challenges."

"That's for sure," Ayame nodded before handing us our own food.

"Challenges?"

Anko shook her head, "You'll learn about it soon enough."

She walked off towards the exit, ushering me to follow her.

"Oh. Thanks Ayame," I said before hurrying off.

When I walked through the opening, Anko was slowly walking to a particular table in the back. I took that as my hint to catch up. But before I could past a row of tables on my right, a man suddenly popped in front of me.

"Well, hello gorgeous."

He looked over me before nodding; it seemed like, in approval. He finger combed through his short, silver hair before flashing a grin at me. "Don't worry, I won't bite. Unless… you want me to."

**Sorry for taking so long to update. Thanks to everyone who continues to read.**

**REVIEWERS**

**Andromeda- Thanks as always. I really appreciate the feedback and the tips. **

**SceneSkittlez- Thanks for the review. Also… O.o**

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**Ergelina- Thank you for the review. I hope that I don't disappoint.**

**PsychoIdiotLady- Thanks for the review. I'll get to Sasuke in the next chapter.*Tries to smile- sparkle like Gai… but can't, so goes to the corner and cries…***


	8. A New Threat

"Real original," I grinned. "Haven't heard that pick up line before."

He smiled, " Oh, I'm sure that you have, just not from me."

I rolled my eyes, before walking past him, and trying to catch up with Anko. I heard him following me from behind and felt a bit uneasy. Clearly this guy isn't good at taking hints.

"First day, huh?"

"Uh...What makes you say that?"

He snuck up close to me, before whispering in my ear, "I think that I'd remember seeing you around here."

I quietly yelped, as I launched myself forward. But before I could drop my food, I regained my balance quickly, ensuring that I would not be humiliated any more in front of all of the attendees in the lunch room. He smiled at me before licking his lips sensually, tempting me to come at him.

I did.

"Yeah, you seem like the kind of guy to really take notice of everyone."

He shrugged, "Well, not _everyone_. Just the sexy ones."

I rolled my eyes, before facing forward again. But I had one problem- I couldn't find Anko!

Shit! Shit! Shit!

My eyes frantically searched around for the weird, plucky woman who was obviously showing me the ropes the rough way.

"Hmm. What's the matter? Can't find your friend?"

I gritted my teeth at that stupid fucker's question. He was obviously tempting me, trying to figure out where my boiling points were.

As we continued to walk down the middle aisle, I was met with callous stares from different volunteers of the other sectors. There were so many different groups and colors, that I didn't actually fully realize how many different sectors there were. Once again, I began to panic. I soon felt like all of the attention was on me, and now people had already formed an opinion of me. Worthless. Stupid. Crazy. This was slowly beginning to remind me of my experience from last year…

Still, the creaton following me was making the whole situation worse. "You know, if you can't find your friends, you can always come eat with me. Or better yet, we can go back to my cabin and…" he laughed as he trailed off of the sentence.

My breathing became shaky and quick.

"So, babe? What do you think?"

I shook my head. "N-no."

I heard him step forward towards me again. "What?"

I closed my eyes, before taking a deep inhale, "I said-"

"No."

I opened up my eyes and looked up at the owner of that voice.

It was Darui. He was standing in front of me, hands in his pockets, visible eye glaring at the instigator. Cool as always.

"You heard her. She said no."

The weirdo chuckled, "Darui. The Cloud Knight to the rescue, huh?"

"And Hidan, asshole to the defenseless."

"Hey! Watch yourself there, punk! This has nothing to do with you."

Darui narrowed his eyes at his fellow camper, " You've insulted my new friend by disrespecting her. It has everything to do with me."

Hidan sneered at him, clearly perturbed. "Heh. I didn't hear her say that she felt disrespected."

"She didn't have to."

Hidan combed his hair back with his fingers, once again. "I was just trying to help out a fellow camper in need. Her so-called-friend left her, and now she has no one to sit with. I was just trying to offer my services."

"Trust me. I don't think that she wants any of your 'services'," Shee said as he came from behind Darui. He stood beside me, offering me protection. " Besides, she can eat with us."

Hidan laughed. "Wow. Two guards, huh?"

My two guards stared him down, without saying anything. Clearly, the two did not get along with the douchebag.

Well, I say that we let her decide who she wants to go with."Hidan said, before he snuck up next to me. "What do you say, babe? Wanna go with me? Or these dweebs?"

Darui flashed him a look of disgust, before looking down at me gently. I nodded at him, before turning to Shee. "Guess that I'll eat with you two."

Hidan's bottom lip almost hit the floor at my answer. "What?!"

Darui took my tray , before motioning me to follow him. "Come on."

I smiled, as I began to follow my new Prince Charming to his table. Wow. Two guys just stuck up for me.,, There isn't anything more romantic or chivalrous that at the moment I can think of.

After a couple of steps forward, Darui looked back towards his friend. "Shee. Let it go."

When I looked back, I saw he and Hidan engaging in an epic stare down. They were mouthing off words to each other, but I couldn't really hear exactly what they were saying. Before things got a bit too tense however, Shee walked off towards us, standing behind me, so that Hidan wouldn't try anything else. Before he could escape my view, I saw him in the corner of my eye blowing me a kiss.

We walked past a couple of sector rows, and ended up in the middle, where the cloud's row was assigned. A couple of the campers had confused looks on their faces, but did not voice any concern as we walked past them, and to the particular table they sat at.

When we arrived, three people, a guy and two chicks, were quietly eating their meals. One of the girls was practically having a panic attack after she saw me. The guy nervously continued to eat, while the other girl acted as though she didn't see us.

Darui led me to a seat next to where he was sitting, and began to take the dishes off of my tray. Shee walked to his seat across from us, and sat down before he resumed eating his breakfast. When he was done setting my food down, Darui quietly sat in his seat and began to eat his meal as well. I stood for a second, unsure if I should (or was even allowed to). However, as my two protectors shot me a look of wonderment, I quickly took my seat.

"Um…" I began.

Before I could even complete my thought, the two men interrupted.

"No problem," Darui mumbled.

"Anytime," Shee said as he began to swallow his ramen.

… And again, I'm speechless.

"Um, Darui. Shee. What is this Leaf girl doing here?" The anxious, purple- haired, ponytailed girl asked.

"Kika, Stay out of it," the other girl said.

"But Yukiko, she's not allowed to be here. The camp handbook clearly states-"

"Sometimes," Yukiko interrupted. "We have to do things against the rules in the handbook."

"-But isn't that the reason our sector is on such a tough probation? We didn't exactly follow the rules last summer when-"

"Kika!"

She stood up from her seat, before glaring at me, Darui and Shee. "If you guys wanna get in trouble for something like this, then fine. Do whatever you want."

With that, she quickly left the table and exited through the door that I came through a couple of minutes before.

Darui and Shee pretended as if nothing had just happened, and still continued to eat their meal. Okay, now their coolness is getting a little bit troublesome.

"Darui, you know maybe I should-"

"Eh, don't let her get to you, leaf," the grey-haired punk girl said to me. "She's just a bit ticked off about some other shit. Take her like a grain of sand."

I blinked a couple of times, "…Okay."

She scooted over next to Shee, where the other girl originally sat to get a closer look at me. Her faux-hawk, along with eyebrow and lip piercings clearly showed that she really didn't give a fuck about what others thought of her. She was a bit rough of the edges, as far as appearance, but still obviously pretty, and all of the dark makeup in the world couldn't hide that.

I praised God for my dark complexion, as you would've been able to see a blush forming on my cheeks over my brief girl crush.

She grinned, before extending out her hand to me. "Yukiko."

"Breena," I smiled, as I shook her hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Well, Breena, the girl who just rudely left was Kika, and the shy guy next to you is Ryo."

"Yukiko!" The young man with the shag haircut next to me harshly whispered to her.

I extended my hand to him, "Nice to meet you, Ryo."

He returned the gesture, "Um, y-you too."

Wow. Doesn't he remind me someone?

His blue hair kind of covered one of his eyes, which gave him that mysterious, sexy appeal. He had slight facial hair, though not enough to have a full goatee. And though he wasn't currently standing, he was clearly tall, and a bit lanky.

"So, what? Do you know Darui and Shee from school?" Yukiko asked, returning the attention to me.

"No," Darui answered. "I just met her yesterday. I was her guide."

She raised a brow, "You were her guide? Funny, I didn't see you two when I was running errands."

"Well…er,um…we had to cut the tour short."

She giggled, "Sure you did."

He rolled his eyes, caught in a weird position. She smiled even more, content that she was making things a bit tense. Sensually, she put her arm around Shee.

"Aww, well I'm sure that Shee-Shee here could've-"

She stopped when she noticed that his attention was not currently on her or anyone at the table for that matter right now.

"Shee?" Ryo said, trying to grasp his friends attention. It didn't work.

Finally, all of us turned to the area where the stalker incident had just occurred, which was where Shee's attention was right now. More specifically, he seemed to be eyeing one of the first tables that I first passed.

Darui shook his head, "Come on, dude. Let that go. All of those jerks are all dull anyway."

"That's not what's bothering me," Shee said. "Did you notice how Hidan was wearing a black polo shirt?"

Yukiko became confused, "Black polo shirt? You mean like the uniform?"

He nodded, "Just strikes me as strange."

Darui stared across the room, before catching my stalker within his sight. "You're right."

"I was actually gonna ask someone about that," I said. "I did notice how those guys over there were wearing black. I just assumed that they were like the juvies or something."

Darui shook his head, "We don't have particular discipline sectors here."

"That's funny. Seeing as how they seem so stuck up here, as far as rules go."

"It wasn't like this always, though. It just happened this summer."

My eyes focused directly on him. It just happened this summer, huh? Did he really have something to do with that?

"Problem?" He asked, as he noticed me staring at him.

Shit, I need to do better with my observation skills. "Nah. Just wondering how it got to be this way."

Suddenly, the people that I was sitting next to went silent. All of them avoiding my stare, as well as my question. Ryo twiddled his thumbs, while Yukiko looked off to the side. Shee took his attention momentarily off of Hidan, and focused on Darui, who at the moment, found his empty bowl to be fascinating as he hit it with his utensils.

O-kay. Guess that the subject is out of bounds for now, huh?

Ryo smiled at me disarmingly, "Um… change I guess? You know how environments tend to adapt in order to survive."

Um… what?

"In this case, the environment being the investing climate?"

Wow. Looks like those economic classes in high school paid off.

The three of his friends looked to the shy guy for the answer. He shrugged in response, "Uh…yeah?"

Heh.

"The place was getting a bit too dull anyway. We needed some kind of change here," Darui said.

"Agreed," Shee mumbled.

"True," Yukiko grinned.

"Uh… yeah." Ryo yelped slightly. Regaining his composure shortly afterwards.

Well, his three friends obviously agree with the statement. In fact, a bit too much, if you ask me. Oh yeah. This group was definitely hiding something

"Jones! Jones!"

I heard someone approaching, yelling my name.

"Jones!"

-Anko?

Sure enough, the spunky siren that was my cabinmate, was making her way towards my new friends' table. When she reached us, she gave me a skeptical look before going on to say:

"I was looking for you. What happened?"

"Let's just say that I was met by an adoring fan," I said sheepishly.

Darui shook his head, "I think that you mean an annoying fan."

The rest of us at the table chuckled at his apathetic comment, while Anko stared at us with a confused look on her face.

I quickly gathered my dishes, careful not to let any food contents spill, and gracefully loaded them to my tray before picking it up. I turned to Darui and Shee, "Thanks for letting me eat with you guys…. And for that _other_ thing."

My heart skipped a beat as Darui actually smiled at me. "No problem."

"Think nothing of it," Shee grinned.

After quickly regaining my composure, I grinned at Ryo and Yukiko. "Nice meeting the two of you."

"You too," both said in unison. Ryo blushed a bit, noting the coincidence.

"Yeah. Thanks _Cloud_," Anko mumbled.

Suddenly, the four of them popped their heads up at the comment and gave her the rudest glare.

"No problem, _Leaf_," Yukiko said.

I quickly made my way over to Anko, sensing the obvious tension between the two sectors. She rolled her eyes, before giving me the signal to follow her. I did so, if only to stop another confrontational argument from happening. We into the middle aisle, only this time, no one was there to intercept me. After passing a couple of tables, who shot us glares, we finally made it towards the end of the room, where I saw a couple of welcoming volunteers wearing the same uniform that I was.

"Breena!"

"Hey Shizune. Kurenai. Sorry didn't mean to make you guys worry, if I did."

Both took a deep exhale, as if they'd been holding their breath for hours. Kurenai smiled, "Just glad to see that you're okay."

Oh, I'm _**more **_than okay…

"Little hussy was hanging out with the Cloud," Anko grinned as we took our seats.

Both women gasped in shock. "You were with the Cloud?!"

"Um…yeah?"

"But Bree," Shizune whispered harshly. "That's against regulations! If Tsunade caught you-"

"Against regulations?! How about having a jerk sexually harass you for several minutes? Isn't **that** against regulations?!"

All three practically fell out of their seats. "Sexually harass?!"

"Yes! That Hidan jerk practically stalked the shit out of me when I was only trying to find this table!"

"Oh. It was Hidan, huh? Then that's not that bad," Kurenai said as she sipped her tea. The other two calmed down and rolled their eyes as well.

"Not that bad?! He was such an asshole!"

Anko patted my shoulder lightly, "Take it easy, and _agreed._ He is very much an asshole. But unfortunately, he does that to all of the girls here."

"Yeah. I guess that's his way of introducing himself," Shizune said.

"But he…" I trailed off and remembered the way I felt when he started to tease me in front of everyone. People were laughing at me, like I was his little slut.

"Come on, that can't be the first time a guy has come on to you, right?"

"No! But he shouldn't have treated me like that! He knew better! Liam knew better than to treat me like that!"

"Liam?"

Suddenly, I snapped back into the current place and time of where I was. "Hi- Hidan! I meant Hidan! He shouldn't have treated me like that."

The three looked at each other in brief concern, before engaging in the conversation again. Shizune smiled gently at me before saying, "We know. Look, the guy's a jerk. The world is full of plenty of them. Just ignore him and go on with your business. From now on, we'll make sure that he doesn't separate you from us like that again."

I nodded. Shit. I feel like a damn kid being consoled by her grade school teacher.

"But Bree," Kurenai said. "You really shouldn't have sat with the cloud. If Tsunade saw that she would've freaked."

Disgusted, I looked to my right, facing the direction of the tables where the kids of the sector sat. On my left, was were the other volunteers were, quietly eating their food, and trying to eavesdrop on our conversation.

"Where is she then? If she would've gotten angry over me sitting with them, then she should've gone into full bitch mode and chomped that douchebag down to size!"

…Yeah, I know. Full bitch mode? Just another one of my Breena-isms.

"She isn't here. She had other things to take care of before the day starts," Kurenai said calmly.

"So then that means that she's in her office?"

She nodded, "Yes."

I stood up from my seat, gathering my dishes. "Then I guess that I'll see ya'll later on."

Anko rolled her eyes at me before taking a last bite of her meal. "Hold on, Bree. I'll go with you."

After gathering her own dishes, she took the leading role once again, and showed me where to drop off the dishes, before showing me the way out of the cafeteria.

As we made our way out, I saw Kakashi, who was sitting between two volunteers, staring at the two of us before we left the room. He seemed almost as if he wished that he could leave too.

* * *

><p>Hidan sat back in his chair, feet propped on his sector's table, hands tucked behind his head, taking in the scene. As he saw Bree and Anko leave the cafeteria, he cat called in her direction. He grinned, "Oh, yeah. That babe can get it anytime."<p>

An older man with long, black hair rolled his eyes, as he saw what his peer was looking at. "Oh, please. You're assuming that she wants _it._ And guessing from the way that she turned you down, I don't think that she wants to have anything to do with _it._"

Hidan's eyes practically popped out of his head as he turned to the other man. "Kakuzu! Shut the hell up!"

"He does have a point though, Hidan," A curly, red headed man mumbled as he observed the two, boringly. "I mean, you totally shamed our sector, let alone yourself. I doubt anyone would want you after that."

Quickly, the annoyed flirt clinched his fist towards the other youth. "Sasori..do you feel like getting hurt today?"

The red head grinned, as he pulled out some chopsticks from his lap and pointed them in Hidans' direction. "No, but do you?"

"Alright guys that's enough. Damn. Can't you two get through one meal without threatening someone?"

The two men looked at each other, before facing their ginger headed captain. "No."

He rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

Hidan grinned at him and his girlfriend, who was sitting beside him. "Well, of course you're always calm, Pain. You've got pu-"

Suddenly, the girl shot him the most terrifying glare before he could finish the sentence. Quickly, he recanted what he was about to say.

"Uh, I mean you've got…pu-pu- potential for romance. You and Konan can hang out with each other any time."

Kakuzu grinned, before leaning into his acquaintance, "Good recovery."

"Anyway," Pain began. "Sasori does have a point. You are making our sector look bad."

Hidan rolled his eyes, before looking down at his black shirt. "Um… exactly how does it make us look bad? Hell, we don't even have a name for ourselves, let alone a game plan. We already looked bad."

"Let me remind you, that our leader did tell us give us the outline for our group. He would never lead us astray," Konan said matter-of-factly.

The annoying stalker chuckled. "Yeah, I know. He told us to gather more people so that we can take over this place and blahdy blah blah."

Pain looked at him, "Well did you?"

Hidan tilted his head toward Kakuzu. "You see that I brought old guy here."

"Sasori?"

The curly- haired emo kid sipped his tea. "I talked to Deidara. He's still on the fence about it, but I think that he'll come around."

"What about the Sand siblings? That Kankuro kid really looks up to you."

"Nah. He waved me off. Looks like he's a bit too loyal for his own good. The sister has always hated me, and that little brother? Dude creeps me out, but I doubt that he'd even side with us."

Hidan chuckled, "He creeps _**you**_ out? You sure that it's not the other way around?"

Pain ignored Hidan's comment, before turning to his confidant. "What about you, Konan?"

She bit her lip, proudly showing off her lower piercing before beginning. "Well, I was able to get one person on board from the cloud, but I think that they'll need to see a bit more premise from us in order for them to come on board definitely."

He grinned at her, proud of what she produced. "Excellent."

"What about the Leaf, then?"

"Well, we've already got Itachi. As for his little brother? Let's just say that he's become Orochimaru's side project."

Kakuzu thoughtfully mused. "I see, so Itachi's at Orochimaru's camp as we speak, eh? I take it that's where Kisame is as well?"

"Right you are, Kakuzu. You know that Itachi won't just leave his little brother alone with that reject."

"Then when will they be back?" Sasori asked.

"In a couple of days. Kisame is doing a bit of… recruitment as well."

"Then we're almost set for the take over?"

"Almost."

Pain looked at Konan, who shook her head. "_He's _not joining us. He was adamant about that this time."

The look of disappointment briefly appeared on his face, before Hidan interrupted the moment.

"So, then we recruit other people?"

Pain shrugged. "I guess. Until we're told otherwise. But we don't really need-"

"Then I think I know the perfect person."

DING! DING! DING!

Everyone stopped eating, before looking to Pain for instructions. "Everyone goes back to the suspension hall and resumes activity until further instructed."

Everyone at the table nodded, before packing up their dishes and disposing of them. As the two made their way to opposite ends of the room to exit, Sasori bumped into Hidan, harshly.

The younger peer whispered harshly to his senior. "I know what you're planning."

"What?" Hidan asked.

"Dude, that chick isn't going to go along with this. Let it go."

"Oh, she'll go along with this soon enough."

Sasori rolled his eyes, "It's obvious that she can't stand the sight of you."

He grinned. "Well, then I'll keep pushing up on her until she finds me irresistible."

With that, he smoothly walked past his junior, going through the exit door before winking at him.

Sasori chuckled, "Good luck with that."

* * *

><p>After getting my ear yelled off by the bitchy leader of my sector, I was tasked with being the "referee" of a couple of physical engaging games, such as Kickball, Volleyball and my personal favorite, Dodgeball. Me and two other volunteers, Kotetsu and Izumo, regulated (kind of) and made sure that the kiddies were generally playing safely with each other, and not making a rucus; at least, that was the description that Tsunade told me about this job.<p>

Anyway, during this time, I was able to meet some of the other campers, including some of the kids that I first saw when I arrived here yesterday. Overall though, the kids seemed like a non-annoying set. Actually, between them, the other volunteers that politely came out of their way to introduce themselves to me today, as well as those that I'd already made a connection with, this sector as a whole seemed to be pretty kind.

Before I knew it, the day flew by fast, and though I hate to admit it, I actually had a bit of fun. Even as all of us went to lunch and dinner, the incident from this morning no longer haunted me. In fact, Anko and the girls all formed a perimeter as we made our way to the table each time, as well sitting by my sides as we ate. When we left the cafeteria after dinner, I waved at Darui and Shee, showing them that I was alright. They acknowledged me, before going their own way, back to their sector.

Learning my lesson from this morning, I took the advice of Anko, taking a bath with the rest of the girls, in the girl's bathhouse. We tidied up our cabin, before Ayame came sauntering in, telling us about how her day went. Before we knew it, all of us volunteers began sharing the adventures that the day had brought to each one of us. The high school girls, even quieted down their conversations in order to listen to ours, and occasionally, asked for advice when we got a particular part that pertained to a while of that, Tsunade came into our cabin and ordered "Lights Out."

We all settled down, sad that we had to quit our fun, yet happy that we'd be able to get some sleep. After she left to finish her tasks, we wished each other good night, and sweet dreams. Within a couple of minutes, the cabin was quiet, except for the sounds of light snoring, most of which came from Ayame. I peeked around the darkness, making sure the coast was clear, before taking out my cell phone and sending a reassuring text to my mom, who had to be worried out of her mind.

As I put my phone under my pillow after I set my alarm, I snuggled comfortably underneath my blanket. Sleep overtook me, as my eyelids became heavy. Finally giving into it, my last words of the night left my lips before I drifted off:

"Good night, Liam."

* * *

><p><strong>Huge thank you's to Andromeda09 and koolkat44 for their kind reviews, as well as those of you who keep reading this story. <strong>

**As for the next chapter, look forward to learning about who Liam is. Also, Darui and Breena's secrets will be revealed!**


	9. Surprises

"ONWARD WITH THE POWER OF YOUTH! LET YOUR SPRINGTIMES SOAR!"

"…Uh, Gai? It's just basketball."

"HA HA! HOW LIKE MY RIVAL TO BE SO QUIET! BUT NOW IS NOT THE TIME FOR HUMBLENESS! COME; EMBRACE THE GLORY THAT IS LIFE WITH ME!"

Kakashi rolled his visible eye before returning to his book, "Uh… that's okay."

The two adults stood on the sidelines of the field, as their students played the fun game. The white jersey team was Kakashi's, while the lime green ones belonged to Gai, who couldn't be happier at the moment. The score was currently 16-8, with Gai's team in the lead. The handsome green devil of the leaf gleamed his trademark smile for all to see as he happily noted the score.

"YES! I SHOULD BE WINNING SOON."

Kakashi didn't even look up towards his friend as he indulged himself in naughty literature, "…yeah."

"VICTORY IS MINE!"

"….sure."

"Eh…Kakashi?"

"Hmm?"

"You're kind of ruining this victory for me."

The silver- haired charmer quit reading, before tucking the book inpouch. He turned his attention back on the court, where his team was continually struggling against his supposed rivals'.

"Sorry, Gai."

"What's with you today? You're acting too apathetic… and that's saying something."

Kakashi shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know. Found out something today."

"What is it? Orochimaru?"

He nodded, "Yeah."

"Well?"

"…Sasuke's with his camp now."

Gai shook his head, before putting his hand lightly on Kakashi's shoulder. "Sorry."

"Yeah, me too." 

* * *

><p>"Sakura! Don't-"<p>

BAM!

"-never mind."

The feisty pink haired girl stood over the body of a horny teen boy who just made a huge mistake. I walked over to the blonde teen's desk and looked down at him. His right cheek still had a visible red slap mark on it, while his mind seemed to be in a place far, far away.

"Naruto? You alright?"

Drool started to drip from his mouth as he tried to regain focus on whom and where he was, along with what just happened.

"Naruto?"

"…Eh."

I shook my head before standing up completely, and turning to the clock. "Alright, ya'll. I think that's it for today. You guys are more than welcome to leave. In fact, just leave."

Without any hesitation, the others packed up their things and began to exit the building. Small chatter and chuckles were my students' calling cards as they disappeared into the camp. Sakura rubbed her fist from where she'd just delivered her venomous blow seconds ago. Just as she seemed as if she was about to rough up her victim a bit more, Ino (of all people) intervened and led her cabin mate out of the classroom. I silently thanked her for her interference, as the two left.

After making sure that everyone else was gone, I went back over to Naruto. I offered him support as he began to stand to his feet, which he gladly accepted.

"Thanks," he mumbled embarrassingly.

"No problem."

"So class is over, huh?"

"Yep."

He slowly gathered his belongings before attempting to limp out to the exit.

"Naruto, sit down for a second. You still don't have your equilibrium."

"But I'm alright-"

"SIT!"

He quickly did as he was told, and took a seat in front of my desk, where Hinata sat. Boy, if she even knew that right now, she'd probably faint.

"Um, Miss Jones?"

"Hmm?"

"Why're you so nice to me?"

"Say what, now?"

"You're not as harsh as the others treat me around here. Why?"

"I don't know, dude."

He glanced down at his desk, a bit defeated.

Ugh. Damn, who would've known that he'd get sensitive?

"Naruto, the others are hard on you because they care. I know that they do. I'm a witness to it."

He nodded, "I know."

The teenage problems are already arising.

Then suddenly, his head popped up and stars formed in his eyes.

"Do you think that Sakura cares? Is that why she punched me?"

Oh boy.

"Dude, you called her flat- chested. She punched you because you insulted her."

"But she _is_ flat- chested, especially compared to Ino or Hinata or…"

He slowly began to lower his eyes from my face to-

"Don't even think about it, Junior."

He rubbed the back of his head. "Sorry."

"Knock. Knock. Can I come in?"

Both of us looked to the only exit from the cabin to notice my angelic, hunky prince sticking his head in through the already open door.

"Sure… Darui."

Swiftly he walked over to us, unimpressed by our "teacher-student" one-on-one time. He and Naruto quickly did a fist bump before he faced me.

"Is Naruto giving you any trouble?" He asked me.

I shook my head vigorously. "No! I just wanted to make sure that he was feeling alright."

"Feeling alright?"

Naruto chuckled sheepishly, "Heh. Heh. I kind of got girl trouble."

Darui raised a brow. "Oh. Well, girls aren't dull. Easy to find yourself uh… compromised."

I took a sharp inhale. Compromised? What the hell is that supposed to mean?

The blonde youth chuckled once again, "Yeah."

"By the way, I saw Iruka heading towards Tsunade's office. "

Suddenly, Naruto brightened up. "Really?!"

"Yeah. Guess that he got back early this morning."

Quickly, Naruto stood from his seat, and gathered his things before heading towards the exit. "I'm gonna try to catch up to him."

Practically running to the door and out of the cabin, he forgot about the two adults that he left in his wake. I sat at my desk confused. What the hell just happened to the pain induced young man that was here a couple of seconds ago?

"Um… Darui? Who is Iruka?"

He sat down on top of the desk that Naruto just sat at, right across from me. "His legal guardian. He's a regular counselor around here."

"Then why haven't I seen him? I've been here for about a month."

"Due to the new... rules, he was given the responsibility of taking care of the younger kids weeks before camp started this year."

I frowned, "Younger kids? Younger kids went here too?"

"Yeah."

Whoo! Thank the universe that I just went here this year!

"So what? Do they go to another camp or something?"

He nodded. "Yeah. He and other counselors from each sector went to one a couple of miles from here."

O-kay.

I stood up from my chair before stretching slightly.

"Busy week?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Aah. Don't tell me that we've all gotten on your nerves weeks in?"

I grinned playfully. "No. My threshold for annoyance is set pretty high."

He chuckled.

I grinned. Cool, he thinks that I'm at least minimally funny.

"So… not that I'm not enjoying… this, but is there that I can help you with?"

He thought for a second, until realization suddenly popped into his mind. He shuffled through some envelopes that were in his hand, before handing one to me. I took it from him slowly, if only to make contact with his hand slightly.

"Mailman?"

"Not exactly. Just wanted to get away from Mifune's for a sec. Took some of the… less desirable errands to be run."

"Thanks. It's probably something from my mom… or a friend from home."

But then I read the front:

ALWAYS AND FOREVER

I quickly set it on my desk, turning it over so that I couldn't see the writing. Suddenly, I felt the life drain out of my body. That saying had been the mantra that-

"Uh... Bree?"

I looked back to Darui, who had a concerned look on his face. "Is everything alright?"

"This letter… did the person…"

"Yeah. Mifune said that the guy brought it in personally. He also told him diligently that it belonged to you."

Shit.

"Seems pretty lovey-dovey," he said dryly.

At the moment, I wasn't able to notice or even care about how Darui was acting. All that I could pay attention to at the moment was the bitter aching that was currently filling my stomach. It had been a familiar feeling; one that I'd gotten used to feeling everyday that I went to school.

DING! DING! DING!

"Class is over, teach."

How in the fuck did this person know where I am? The school didn't disclose any information about my whereabouts for the summer. The only people who would possibly know where…

"Ms. Jones?"

I looked over at the handsome stud again. "What was that? Sorry."

"I said that class is over. Time for rec."

"…Right."

He stood up from his desk and collected the assignments that the class had just done. When he collected all of them, he handed them to me.

I smiled weakly, "Thanks."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "Don't mention it."

Both of us quickly looked around the room to see if anything in particular was out of place. Unfortunately, it wasn't.

"Can I walk you to your next location?"

"Escort?"

He shrugged. "Just wanna make sure that the lady is alright."

Shit. Of all the days that he had to approach me and be all hot and considerate, it had to be today.

"The lady is alright."

He came closer to me, "Really? You seem out of whack. Is it over that?"

He pointed to the envelope on my desk.

I nodded, "Something that I wasn't expecting, that's all."

He frowned, "Is someone trying to mess with you?"

I shook my head. "Nope. It's from one of my friends back home. It's just a joke."

Lies. All lies.

But, he did look very concerned, and I really didn't need for him to go and tell Mifune about this. It could wipe away all of the progress that I've made here so far.

I smiled gently, "Actually. The lady could use some company."

"Oh? Well good thing I'm here."

I nodded, "Really good thing."

"Well then," He reached out his hand to me. "I think that I've got something in mind that could cheer you up. Or at least, get your mind off of whatever's bothering you."

I quickly organized all of the papers and the envelope into one neat pile and stuffed them into my purse before accepting his hand.

God knows that I could really use a pick me up right now- especially in the fine company of the opposite sex.

* * *

><p>"Ryo, be more careful with that!"<p>

Ryo quit blow torching metal onto the Cloud's art composite. When he noticed his senior flinch and almost fall off of the ladder next to him, he practically carved out a hole in his body- neglectful of the artistic purposes. When Shee regained his balance, he clung onto the medium they were doing.

"Oh. Sorry Shee-San. I've only used this thing twice. Still trying to get the hang of it."

An exasperated Shee practically had his eyeballs popping out of his head at this point. "Are you fu—Are you serious?! Remind me again, why were you put in charge of this project?!"

"Well… uh I'm the only one here in this sector with different art medium experience."

"There has to be someone with a little more-"

"Why yes, Senpai. But Ms. Samui is currently on leave from-"

"DON'T SAY HER NAME!"

Ryo was taken aback. "S-senpai?"

"… I know who you're talking about. No need in saying her name. Just use her title as reference. Understand?"

"H-hai," the shy man answered nervously, before resuming his work.

"Good."

* * *

><p>"It was really nice meeting you Kankuro."<p>

"You, too, Miss Breena. Look forward to uh… wrecking havoc with you."

"Oh. Awesome." I said that hesitantly before I looked toward my supposed escort, who had just introduced me to a puppeteer with definite sexual instigations in mind.

He chuckled however, upon seeing my facial expression. He then gave his friend a secret handshake before leading me away from the front of the Sand Sector's office.

"O-kay," I said when we were well out of hearing range for Kankuro. "What the hell was that?"

"That was Kankuro, puppet master of the Sand Sector and slightly off wise friend of mine."

He's only slightly off?! Really? We'd just spent fifteen minutes getting a tour of his little S&M puppet collection shop.

Darui chuckled. "Sorry. He's not like other people around here."

"Obviously."

"Maybe that's why I like him."

He grinned at me before opening the gate back to the main camp. Fucking sexy.

As we both walked through, I felt a sense of peace, instead of the constant panic that I'd felt a while ago.

"You're popular, you know."

A question appeared on his face at my blank statement.

I smiled. "It's true. I've only been here a short time, but all of the volunteers, campers and counselors know who you are, and seem to be enamored by you…"

I looked towards the ground as we headed towards Mifune's. "You seem to have a pull on people…"

"-So do you."

I shook my head. No. I didn't have that gift; the special "People's Person" quality that so many people possessed. But at the same time, I didn't quite possess the confidence to not really give a shit about what others perceived to know about me. I was just awkward, blunt and sarcastic Bree. Always have been.

I continued. "No. I don't have that effect on anyone."

"You do on me," he said gently.

I felt a blush creep on me. I quickly looked around to avoid the gaze that he was giving me.

"Let's stop here for a sec, alright? Need a mental breather," He grinned when he noticed what I was doing.

I finally summoned the courage to peep around where he'd taken me. And of all things, it was a small playground: Two rusty swings, a small slide, a sandbox and a monkey bar cage occupied the space...

What the utter fuck? I never paid any attention to this before…

"Has this always been here?"

He nodded. "I guess that they were too much in a hurry to tear it down before the kids were kicked out."

"Wow. And it's so close to Mifune's. I guess that the joyful sound of children's laughter must've turned him off. He had to get rid of them…"

He chuckled, "Actually, at the end of last summer, the investors decided to build a 'junior' camp for the kids. "

"Oh!"

Either way, I'm just glad that I only have to deal with the teens.

"Have a seat?" He stretched out his hand toward the swings.

I eagerly accepted his invitation and sat on the right one, while he sat on the left. He stared at me for a minute, like he was trying to figure me out.

"So…" he trailed off.

My heart began to beat fast. "So…"

"Speaking of children, do you have any?"

I shook my head vigorously, "No!"

He chuckled, "I was just asking! You know, people our age are beginning to have them."

"Are you trying to drop the hint that you're a father?"

He sat back, "No!"

I decided to tease him for a bit. "I mean, it would make sense. You're very mature, you get along with the kids here, and… you brought me to a playground… all of it makes sense now…"

"No! In no way am I a father. I definitely am not ready for parenthood."

"Me neither. I just wanted to make sure."

He playfully rolled his eyes, "Whatever."

"Do you have any siblings?" I asked.

He nodded, "One. She's actually A's assistant…"

"A?"

"The Cloud's Head Counselor."

I was impressed. "Wow."

He shrugged, "Yeah…"

"Speaking of which, I don't think that I've seen any of the other Head Counselors since I've been here…"

"Eh. You'll see him soon enough. He's a big, muscular black guy with a temper like you wouldn't believe. It's actually a miracle that you haven't met him. He's usually very adamant about knowing all of the camps volunteers."

"Why isn't he like that now?"

"He's been keeping an eye on his brother."

My eyes widened. "He has a brother? Is he a Head Counselor, too?"

He shook his head, "No. A used to keep him here to monitor him, but lately he's been rebellious. So, he sent him to the junior camp to run our sector over there. "

"Ah. Trying to keep him busy?"

He nodded. "It's actually pretty nice to be away from him."

"Why?"

"He raps. Constantly."

I grinned. "As in he's a rapper?"

"-He thinks that he is. In fact, the only way he speaks is in rhyme. "

"Must be annoying."

"Yeah. Sometimes it is, but he's a good dude, so I just go with it."

"Well, if that's the case, I hope that I meet him."

"So what about you? Do you have any siblings?"

I swung back and forth a little. "Yeah. An older brother. He lives in Seattle and has a family of his own, so I don't see him that much."

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"So, you just have your mom?"

I nodded. "My father died when I was fifteen. Cancer. "

Upon seeing the sorrow in my eyes, sensitivity popped into his being. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged. "It happens. What about your parents?"

He looked towards the ground. "Mom got a divorce from my dad when she found out that he loved his job more than her. Lived with her for until I got into college, got my own apartment, talk to her once a week. I talk to him once a month."

Wow. The way that he said that was so cold and rehearsed, like he'd been saying those lines to people for a while.

He smiled as he continued, "But between you and me, A is more like a father to me. I've known him since I was a little kid. He's partly the reason that I keep coming here each summer."

My eyes almost popped out of their sockets. "You've gone here since you were a kid?!"

He nodded, "Well, you know, before it was like…"

He frowned as he looked around at the borders of all of the sectors.

"I bet that it was fun back then."

"Yeah."

It's times like these when I wish that my mom would've put me in one of those corny, fun summer camps when I was a kid. My childhood friends would tell about the fun experiences that they'd have at the ones that they attended. It kind of made me yearn for those good times that they'd brag about to each other.

"So, I bet that your friends miss you," he said.

I smiled a bit. What friends? After what happened last year, everyone became afraid to be around me. The only people that I spoke to now were my teachers, my mom and my therapist. Pathetic, I know.

"What about you and Shee? You two must've known each other for a while."

"Yep. We've been friends ever since middle school."

"Wow. That's pretty awesome."

"Yeah."

"At least you don't have to miss each other."

He turned to me. "Is there anyone that you miss?"

Yeah, my mom. But I don't wanna seem like some whiny, little baby. "Ah, no."

I took a glance in his direction. Shit. He's staring at me!

His voice became softer as he inched towards me. "I'm sure that your boyfriend misses you, though."

I swallowed the lump in my throat. As my palms began to sweat, I quickly put my hands in my lap, placing my purse on my side and bringing my swinging to a stop. I still avoided his gaze. "Uh… no. No boyfriend."

Suddenly, he grabbed my swing's chain to stop my swinging. He stood up and grabbed my other chain, pulling me close to him before he sat back down. Our faces inches away, I finally got the courage to look at him.

"Good." He said. "Then I can do this," he gently leaned into me to give me a tender kiss.

* * *

><p>"I DON'T LIKE HER FOR OUR SECTOR!"<p>

"Now, Shizune. Give her a chance to-"

"I've given her plenty of chances! She just doesn't seem to fit in my sector!"

Mifune rolled his eyes, before looking back at his respected cohort. Right now though, this woman was fuming. Her hands were planted firmly on his desk, looking down at him in his chair. The usually respectful youth was never like this unless something really bothered her.

He inhaled deeply and let out his breath slowly and steadily. "I haven't gotten any other complaints from any of the other counselors. It seems in fact, that they've taken a liking to her."

"Well of course not! Most of the guys have crushes on her! They wouldn't rat her out."

"Aren't you worse than them? After all, you're her cabin mate, and I've seen you eat meals together."

"So?"

"Give the girl a break, Shizune. She really needs this volunteer job. She's still on probation at her college and they won't let her return unless she completes this summer here."

Suddenly, the medical professional took a step back, glaring at her boss. "You- Don't tell me that you like her?"

Mifune shrugged.

An evil glare appeared in her eye. "You've got to be kidding me! You're letting your feelings-"

"-Don't misunderstand me! I do not want her. However, I do recognize when someone is trying and putting their best foot forward in an effort to better themselves. That's admirable."

She chuckled. "You've got to be-"

"I think that you like her, though."

"WHAT?!"

"I think that you like her as one of your volunteers, but you're afraid."

"Afraid of what?"

"-Afraid of liking her. You think that before this summer is over, you'll have a hard time of letting her go."

"Oh, please! I'd be MORE than happy to let her go! This camp is in chaos because of her!"

"Okay. What kind of chaos has the camp gotten into because of this one girl?" He propped his chin up on his hand, waiting for an explanation.

Quickly, she busied herself with her hands. "W-what has she done? Well, for one thing, she's been hanging out with volunteers from other sectors…"

"-Good. We need more unification here. What else?"

"The assignments that she's given to her art class are uncanny…"

"-They haven't complained about it. In fact, a lot of the kids think that she's cool and they look to her as a role model. What else?"

She began to get upset. "Well… she doesn't follow the schedule correctly."

"-No one does," he said dryly. "Myself included."

She rolled her eyes at that statement. "Yeah, but you hate this job."

"Agreed."

She shook her head. "Whatever…"

"You don't like her, don't you?"

"No, I do like her, but I just don't trust her."

He leaned back in his seat, this time, putting his hands in his lap. "Why?"

"You know why. Our camp can't risk a chance on someone as unstable as she is."

He grinned. "I agree. But, I have a feeling that she will surpass your expectations."

"You have a-? Are you serious? She attempted to commit suicide! Over one guy, by the way."

"Your point?"

"My p—She's not stable in the least bit! She's made some stupid decisions!"

"Well, perhaps if you let her explain the whole experience, you'd change your perception."

"I don't think-"

Mifune slowly stood from his chair, going around his desk, walking over to the intelligent woman. "I seem to recall there being a girl who used to make stupid decisions before she got here."

Shizune took a step back, before saying. "That was a long time ago."

"And before long, that incident for her will be 'a long time ago'. "

She shook her head. "I don't know, sir."

He grinned, "Give the girl a chance."

"But…. s-she's hanging out with that Cloud sector guy who slept with his counselor."

"-Darui? She's hanging out with Darui? "

"Yes!"

"-Excellent. "

She practically fell over. "What?"

"There isn't anyone that I'd prefer more to keep an eye on her."

"I think that they may be developing feelings for each other-"

"Good!"

"What?! They're in different sectors!"

"…so?"

She threw up her hands in defeat and grunting. "I give up."

The older man chuckled at her frustration before gripping her by the shoulders gently. "Shizune, my dear, everything will work out. You've just got to learn to let go of all of these worries, and just have fun."

"Huh?"

"You've got to lighten up," he stood beside her, while leading her out of his office. "Honestly, you put so many worries and burdens on yourself for no reason. Even Tsunade's not this intense when it comes to the matters of her sector."

"No, that's because she puts them all on me."

He laughed at her statement, "Very, very true."

She opened his door, stepping out of the room in utter defeat. She quickly turned around, putting up her index finger, in order to make a point, "But what about-"

Slam!

She stood in her place, shocked that the man that she'd respected for many years just shut the door in her face.

"I cannot believe that he just…" she trailed off, when she realized that there was no point for her complaint. No one was around to hear her anyway.

She quickly faced forward, and walked out of the office building to make her way back to her sector.

Lighten up? Seriously? There wasn't any time for her to lighten up. Everyone in the camp, including the head counselors, had the tendency to act like children. Even Tsunade, who had the tendency to work her like a slave, could not be trusted with such huge responsibilities. If not for Shizune's help, which included but was not limited to: filing, filling out paperwork, organizing activities for the day, distributing duties to all of the volunteers and keeping Tsunade sober and awake, the leaf sector would be in shambles.

Shit! Speaking of boss, she'd forgotten to get that new roster that she worked on for her. She stopped in her tracks. She'd have to go back to Mifune's office. She looked ahead at the walk path that she'd just taken. Eh. What the hell, she thought to herself. Today, she didn't feel like following customs and decided, instead, to take the shortcut.

The leaves of grass that she was walking on were beginning to get a little tall. She'd have to remember to tell Gai to cut it. She knew that he wouldn't mind it, as enthusiastic as he was about everything.

Still walking…

From the distance, she saw some of the kids playing soccer, with Yamato as the ref. She giggled when he accidently got hit with the ball. He rubbed the back of his head, before glaring at Kiba, who was laughing his ass off at his senior's misfortune.

Almost there.

Just then, an idea popped in her mind. She smiled gently as she thought about one of her secret favorite pastimes. It's not like she was in a rush anyway. She really didn't want to go and help Tsunade with her work afterwards. She figured that she'd pass some time, before getting the roster and going back to help out her boss.

Her smile beamed brighter as she walked towards the side of Mifune's office. Right now, she needed a bit of swing therapy. Although it was extremely childish, she loved indulging in the playground activities. Sitting on a swing, wind blowing through her hair, only her thoughts to keep her company for a while would do her some good. It could even help her "lighten up".

She did her best to keep herself from giggling as she slipped past the window in Mifune's office, feeling as though she was getting away with stealing a cookie from the kitchen before dinner started. When she got out of view, she looked around to see if anyone was watching. When the coast was clear, she turned the corner.

"Oh." She said breathlessly as she took in the sight before her.

Right in front of her, on her beloved swings, the woman that she'd just reported to Mifune was making out with one of his assistants. Slowly, she moved back, making sure not to make any noise as to disturb them.

Gently, with every small footstep, she began to back up, to go back behind the building. However, before she could turn the corner, she accidently bumped into something from behind. She concealed her yelp, before turning around and learning that she actually bumped into someone: Kakashi.

Her senior seemed too shocked to see the two making out, to notice his peer bump into him.


	10. Bad Reputation

**~*~Short chapter this time.~*~**

"Kakashi?" Shizune whispered, looking up to his stunned face.

He didn't say anything, even though she said his name a couple of times. When she nudged him in the stomach, he finally noticed her. He quickly regained his normal, cool composure before silently leading her away from the scene.

Within moments, both of them came to the concrete path that was in front of Mifune's office. Kakashi gestured to her to continue to follow him further towards the leaf encampment, which she hesitantly did. When they were well out of Bree and Darui's sight, Kakashi grabbed her by the shoulders.

"Shizune, we can't tell anyone what we just saw here."

"HUH?!" Shizune's eyes almost popped out of her head. "And why not?! You and I both know that it is against the rules for people to have intimate contact with each other!"

Upon seeing her dramatic rant, Kakashi sighed heavily, let go of her shoulders and took a couple of steps away from her. When she knew that she'd calmed down, he continued his stance.

"They just made out. Nothing to cause alarm over."

"-Regardless, it's not for us to decide. It's up to Mifune."

"Wow," he said as he rubbed the back of his neck in soreness. "I never thought that you were such a school teacher."

She sauntered back in surprise, but then regained her cool. "Excuse me?!"

"You mean to tell me that you've never made out before?"

She gasped. "That is _none_ of your business!"

He rose an eyebrow at her unbelieving, and then leaned in, prying a bit. She blushed before avoiding eye contact with him, knowing that she'd been put into a corner.

"…Fine. I have…"

Kakashi nodded, knowing his assumption was already right.

"-But that still doesn't mean that it's alright!"

"Agreed. But she's a noob, so she doesn't have any idea of how things work around here."

"Well, what about Darui then? He should know better."

"Again, _agreed."_

"So what's the problem with him? He is the last one that should be doing things like this."

"Eh… he's a young guy infatuated with a girl. It happens, especially during summer time. It's part of uh.. the springtime of their youth."

He gagged internally at the Gai reference that he'd just used. He could kill himself right now…

"No, Kakashi. I just don't think that it's a good idea. We have to nip this thing in the bud," she said stubbornly.

"Fine," He shrugged. "I just thought that a worldly and responsible woman like you would be able to extend your grace on those two lost souls. Someone as professional and… uh… graceful as you would become even more highly regarded if you just spared these two mercy."

A stray hair popped up on Shizune's head as she thought about his words. Kakashi sheepishly looked at her mannerisms, knowing full well that his tactic worked.

"Fine," she said after a matter of seconds. "I'll let it go this time. But, I want for you to talk to her. This can't go on."

He rose his hands in surrender, "Alright, alright. We'll have a chat about it."

She quickly straightened her posture, making sure that her stance was without weakness, so that he would take her word seriously. When he seemed to get the message, she walked past him, going towards Tsunades' office.

A sly smile was etched into the mysterious man's mask. As usual, he was able to win another argument against one of his juniors.

* * *

><p>Bree moaned slightly as Darui began to separate himself from her, and return his swing to its natural position, letting go of both of their swings' chains. Slowly she opened her eyes, disappointed that the session didn't last long.<p>

Remembering himself, as well as where he was, he stood up abruptly from his swing set and walked a few steps away.

"I'm sorry. I shouldn't have done that."

WHAT? The question appeared in her mind, but she was unable to voice it.

"It was too soon. I didn't mean to act so…"

Suddenly, she stood up, almost dropping her bag in the process. "I-it's okay! Really, it is!"

He shook his head no, before turning to her. He grabbed her hand sweetly. "I haven't even gone out with you or asked you out on a date…."

He gestured with his other hand to the swing set, "This was real disrespectful."

"No… it wasn't. And you've **always** been really… kind to me…" She plead to her crush. "You've haven't done anything wrong. I mean, I kissed you back."

She smiled gently, trying to reassure him. She repeated, "You didn't do anything wrong."

"It's just that- I mean, I' m not THAT type of guy. I don't rush into things like that."

She blushed. So did that mean that she had that kind of effect on him? Did he really like her and take her seriously?

"But Darui, I already know that."

She'd known that about him from the first time that she met him. He was a guy of gentle integrity, who didn't seem to be the kind of person capable of inflicting harm onto others. Perhaps that was the reason that she fell for him so hard.

"It's not like you forced yourself onto me. I… willingly accepted that because…"She trailed off.

When he did begin to talk, a rise of hope mustered in her being. However, it was all false.

He looked down at the ground, trying to regain his natural sense of right and wrong, ignoring the wants and needs that he so much wanted to act out on. That had always been his problem; acting on impulse. It had gotten him into trouble, as well as put the ones that he cared for under suspicion.

"I'm sorry," he whispered harshly.

"You said that already."

He nodded, "I know. And I'll probably be saying it many more times to you."

She shook her head. Maybe if she threw out a suggestion, he'd feel better about this. "Well, crap. If you want to be all _noble_, you could just ask me out on a date- If you want. I mean, you like me, right?" She asked hurriedly, worried that she'd gone in too far over her head.

"It wouldn't matter."

She almost fell over her own two feet. Now he just wasn't making any sense.

"It wouldn't matter?" She repeated the question.

"You don't know how things work around here."

She let go of his hand. "What?"

"I can't date you here. It's against the rules"

Against the—

"What are you talking about? This isn't some strict elementary school. It's a freakin camp! Who cares about the rules?!"

"You should," he quipped.

Whoa.

"You've already got enough attention pinned on you. You don't need this to add to it," he continued.

"What do you mean? Because I'm the new girl? Its just standard initiation flesh out. No big deal. It'll wear off in time."

"No, it won't."

She exhaled deeply, trying to stay calm with this man. He was just making things seem bigger than what they really were; which seemed odd, considering he was such a laid back person.

"Darui, what's this about?"

He shook his head, "You don't know things yet, do you?"

She went blank for a second, forcing her memory of what others had said about this place since she was here.

"I heard that there was a counselor that made things less serious than they are now. And like, once he died this place basically turned into shit and Mifune had to take over."

"Ah. You don't know too much then…"

"What's there to know?"

"This camp isn't normal…"

"No kidding," she said sarcastically.

"You're a newbie, so you don't know much about our history here. So… let's just say that it wouldn't end well for you."

The fuck?

"What? Are you a player or something?"

He chuckled, "No. But I have a reputation."

O-kay, she thought to herself. Unless that reputation had to do with him being sexy, which she didn't think that it did, she found that she didn't give a damn right now.

"Yeah? That just means that you're not… _dull._"

He smirked at his phrase, "True."

She smiled as he began to become less serious.

He bit his lip, finding himself throwing his usual caution out the window when it came to her. "To answer your question from before, I do like you."

Bree blushed a bit at the admission, almost forgetting that she'd even asked the question.

"But," he shrugged. "It's against the rules to even talk to someone from the sector, let alone get in a relationship with them."

He put his hands in his pockets, taking steps further from her.

"We'd be in such trouble if we got involved."

She went into her bag and grabbed the unopened letter that she'd gotten earlier. Examining it, she placed her finger tips over the 'Always and Forever' writing, remembering her memories from her past relationship as she dragged them. Then, she looked up at Darui, who turned around to her when she took a while to respond. He looked at her and then the letter that was in her hands, unsure of what she'd do. She looked at him, shook her head and grinned, before tearing it into pieces before him. The scattered bits blew away in the wind, adding more to her desired effect. As the pieces flew away, he was too soon to reach out for them.

"But-" he trailed off. His attention was grabbed by her once again, as she moved closer to him.

Determination appeared into Bree's eyes, as she began to close the gap between her and this odd guy. Granted, most of the guys that she had feelings for were odd, but this one was just off the charts. He was chivalrous, coolishly blunt and he never once made her feel like she was any less than who she was. This was something that she'd never before experienced, even with _Liam_.

She smiled. Silly girl, she thought, it was her that was odd. But still…

She kissed him lightly on the cheek before leaning into his ear saying gently: "Sure, we could definitely be scolded and be put at risk of getting into trouble, but isn't that what would make it fun?"

He grinned at experiencing this side of her; although, he would have to admit, it kind of turned him on.

Feeling like that was the right moment to leave on, she walked off towards her sector; leaving the young man to ponder if their feelings would really be worth the risks. They were.

**~*~Thanks you as always for r&r! Next chapter will definitely be longer. Promise!~*~**


	11. Secret Lovers?

"Hey Bree, could you get some more cones for the field? I don't think that the perimeter is big enough."

I gleamed with joy as I answered my senior co-worker, Yamato. "Sure thing."

He smiled at me hesitantly, trying to almost become invisible in his referee uniform, which was composed of white tight shorts that went above his knee, knee high socks that matched a traditional ref shirt and (to top off the homage to the 80's), a thick neon green headband covered the edges of his hair, stopping just a bit before his eyebrows. He was embarrassed to say the least. He had to following protocol because it was pretty obvious as he ignored the snickers from around him, that he wouldn't normally be caught dead in the ensemble.

I wouldn't be surprised if he assumed that I was gleaming over his predicament. What he didn't notice however, was that I was of a non- jocular type of joy today.

After all, it'd been one week today since I kissed the insanely hot guy that I'd been crushing on since I came here. My cheeks were almost a beet red from smiling so much. My eyes gleamed with such a spark that people had to bear witness to it, in order to testify that they were in such condition. And my arms were so capable of handing out love, that I'd given hugs to anyone who'd gladly (or forcefully) accept them. To put it short, I am happy.

This was the sort of happy that only came around a couple of times in an average lifespan. Right now, things couldn't get me down, nor could anything else bring me further joy than I am feeling.

If I was a bell, I'd be ringing. If I was a plane, I'd be flying. If I was a…. ah, you get the idea.

"Want some help?" Anko asked. She didn't know how to take me being so happy. I knew however, that she had no intention of finding out why. When it came to personal things, she didn't meddle too much in others business. I admired that so much about her.

"Nah, I got it," I said with a smile.

I happily made my way down the field to the shack where the sports supplies were stored, leaving my co-workers with presumed questions about my attitude. As I made my way, some of my fellow volunteers waved and greeted me along the walk, and pointed out my pleasant demeanor, but didn't prow too much- which I was relieved of. Then again, if there was anything that I could point out about this place, it was how everyone pretty much minded their own business. At least, that's how it'd been so far.

I decided to take the shortcut behind some of the cabins, silently hoping that I wouldn't get into any trouble for walking on the grass. When I finally made it to the grey, rusty old shack I exhaled happily and then hummed a tune before opening the door. I didn't even notice that someone was close to me before they clamped their hand over my mouth.

I couldn't scream and at the moment, I was too scared to move on my own.

"It's me," a familiar voice whispered in my ear.

I calmed down a little and willed my captor to take me inside. When he was able to awkwardly shut the door with his shoulder, he let go of me.

"Darui?" I said breathlessly.

He put up his hands in surrender. "Sorry, didn't mean to freak you out. But it seems like your entire sector is outside. I had to get to you before anyone else saw."

His face grew somber as he noted how shook I was. "Bree…"

"Were you in martial arts or something?" I asked, just so that he could know that my mind frame was slowly returning to me.

"Wrestling," he grinned slyly while looking down at his hands for a second.

"Oh. You must've been the champion then."

He stepped back, out of fear that I'd react to him. "Look, I'm sorry about what I did. I didn't think that-"

He shut his mouth as I moved up to him daringly and gave him a quick peck on the lips.

He chuckled, "I still have to get used to you being so aggressive."

I lightly touched his face with my fingertips. "You know you like it," I smiled cheekishly.

"I do." He grabbed my hand as I walked past him towards my initial goal.

Wow. Now he's grabbing my hand, we'd just kissed. Yep, it was official. Things are already a lot better in my life right now than they have been in a long time.

But for a while, I was beginning to think that I'd done something wrong. After all, it'd been a couple of days since our last meeting. The only time I'd seen him was during lunch when I'd walk over to where the Leaf ate. We exchanged flirty looks during the period, but that only did so much to quench my natural curiosity. I even allowed my students to get out of class a lot earlier, hoping that he'd show up when others weren't around me.

We stopped walking when we got to the closet for field supplies. I let go of his hand to cautiously open it, making way for a slight slide of different sports balls to come through. I opened the doors wider so that I could see the stuff better. Crap. The cones are all the way in the back.

With all sorts of stuff piled on my feet, I reached far in the back to grab the equipment. Still can't reach them.

Stretch a little more and…

Still can't reach them.

Finally, I was stretched so far into the closet that my back was almost horizontal to the floor. But just as I reached a little more I felt myself falling down.

Breath was forced out of my lungs, from shock of potential pain from hitting the bottom of the metal storage outlet. I was more than grateful for the strong arms that caught me before I could hit anything hard.

"You okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

He held me as I got out of the bunch sports balls that surrounded my feet and took me to the nearest clearest flooring path.

I began to stand up straight, regaining my balance. My mind once again held focus and perspective correctly.

Or at least, I thought that it did because I know that I wouldn't feel like his arms are around my waist.

I looked down. My body was close to his. There wasn't really a gap between us… I'm being held.

I blushed, before getting the courage to lift my head up and look him in the eyes. He was looking down at me, with unspoken words on his face.

"…Darui?"

He didn't say anything as he lowered his head down to mine and passionately kissed me.

* * *

><p>Anko couldn't suppress her yawn any longer. Her boredom was edging on the verge of tears. Who the hell actually played soccer anyway? It didn't make sense to her.<p>

"Shino, more hustle out there, dude," Kotetsu shouted over to the deep thinking youth, who was currently just standing out on the field with his hands in his khaki pockets.

Anko shook her head. Now the freaking campers were wearing stupid uniforms! Although, it wasn't as harsh as what she and her friends had to go through. Dark green t-shirts with the Leaf emblem in the middle, along with khaki shorts or skirts had been distributed to the kids three days ago. This "protocol" is getting out of hand, she thought.

Ah, but then again, why should she fret over something she can't personally take care of? At the moment, she much preferred to handle what it was in her power to.

"Uh, Kotetsu? He's a goalie. He can't exactly get up and run with the rest of the team," Anko said matter-of-factly.

He grumbled something before finally telling her, "Mind your own duties, Anko."

She rolled her eyes, "Suit yourself. Just trying to show you how the game is played."

Her rival just grunted in response.

"She's right though, man. He can't leave his post," his assistant coach, Izumo said lazily. He was sitting down on the team's bench with the rest of the reserves. "I told you to read that book about soccer. You know nothing about it and you're a terrible coach."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!"

Izumo shrugged, not looking up towards him. "Just sayin'."

Anko giggled as the two bickered before sitting down on her team's bench. Mission accomplished.

"It couldn't hurt you to be more active either, Anko," a voice said from behind her team's bench.

Anko flashed her trademark grin before chuckling. "Why should I be? Those two imbeciles are making this game too easy for me."

"Still…"

"Shizune," the carefree girl turned around on the bench slightly. "The score is 10-1. I'm pretty sure that my method is working."

She extended her hand out to the field where Sai was currently defending Kiba, who was currently in possession the ball. After Sai managed to take it away from him, the ruffian began to stomp the ground before grunting and complaining. Anko laughed. Kotetsu grumbled. Shizune sheepishly chuckled.

"Good job, Sai!" His head coach boasted, making sure that her opponent noticed her pride.

He did.

"Kiba! Stop complaining and get back in the game!"

The young man did as he was told, only to get down to the opposite side of the field in time to see Sai kick the soccer ball get past the (barely there) guarding of Shino. Anko's on-field team roared in cheer and ran towards the quiet youth. Whilst on the other team, Kiba lectured the uncaring Shino, who seemed to not have any fucks to give.

Anko stood up to clap and whistle at her player's accomplishment. "That boy has really started to come out of his shell," she boasted over to Shizune, who nodded.

"I wish that Bree could've seen this. She'd be over the moon. God knows that she's his cheerleader."

Shizune stopped admiring the happy worship-fest that was happening before her. "Bree? She's with you today?"

"Yeah. She's my assistant coach."

"Well… where is she?"

Anko looked around, before shrugging. "I dunno. She was supposed to get cones for the game. I thought that she would've been back by now."

She looked at her friend, who seemed a bit worried. "I'm sure that she's okay, Shizu. She probably just went to the bathroom or something."

"-Or something."

"To be fair, it's not like we actually need any more cones. We were just trying to follow the new freaking protocol."

Shizune shook her head. "It's not about the stupid cones…"

Anko looked puzzled. "Okay then what is this about? Lately you've been watching her like a hawk. If I didn't know you too well, I'd think that you're a crazy stalker- person."

Shizune stepped closer to her, before looking around them to make sure that it was safe. "Can you keep a secret?"

Anko hesitated, weirded out. But after a couple of seconds, she hesitantly nodded.

Shizune lowered her voice, using her hand to cover the side of her mouth, so that the other coaches couldn't decipher any of her lip movements. "Alright. The truth is that a couple of days ago I saw her making out with someone."

Anko wasn't amused. "Um… so? I have a couple of make- out dates with a guy or two around here. No biggie."

"That's not the-" Shizune paused, surprised. "A guy or two? Seriously?"

Anko shrugged, grinning proudly.

Shizune waved her off. "Well, I'm sure that you haven't made out with anyone from outside of the Leaf."

"Say what?"

"I saw her with Darui."

Anko's eyes widened. "_Darui?_ You mean the Cloud's Darui?"

"The one and only."

"Oh shit."

"Yeah. They were on the playground by Mifune's office."

Anko whispered, still shocked by what she'd heard. "She made out with Darui?"

Shizune nodded. "I thought that you told her about inter-sector relationships."

"I lightly touched on it. I think that Mifune might've said something."

"I Doubt it."

"Shit," Anko repeated again.

"Yep," Shizune crossed her arms. "My sentiments exactly."

Anko straightened her stance slightly, gaining a bit of hope. "Well maybe it was just a make-out session. I mean, you know how it is around here; no one ever really becomes serious enough to get in a relationship."

"But she's obviously had a crush on him since she came here. So, I doubt that she thinks it's just casual."

Anko's eyes widened again as she the realization struck her. "Oh boy."

"NARUTO! QUIT PLAYING AROUND! IT'S YOUR TURN TO COME IN!"

The two women quickly looked over towards the field, where Sakura was waving towards their direction. Both of them slowly turned their heads to the team's bench, only to see Naruto hunching towards the two of them. Both women drew their mouths open- shocked that the mischievous youth had been listening in on their conversation.

"Heh…heh. Hi Anko-San, Shizune-San."

* * *

><p>I closed my eyes tighter, fearing that I was now in a wonderful dream. If that was the case, I knew that I didn't want to wake up, <em>ever<em>.

I was elated as he pulled me in closer to him. I could feel his hard chest muscles against my puny build. He kept me occupied from praising him build as he continued to aggressively shower me in soft, tender kisses.

But then… my senses kicked in. This wasn't right for me.

All of a sudden memories of last year came flooding into my senses. I couldn't let _that_ happen again. It wasn't good for me then and it damn sure isn't now.

Abruptly, I pulled away from him.

His face had a lot of unvoiced questions as we faced each other in silence to catch our breath.

I shook my head. "I'm not THAT girl."

"What?"

"I'm not the girl who casually makes out with guys that she really doesn't know. That's not me."

Not normally, anyway. That peck was just out of the pure joy I felt to see him once again, but I really had no intention of keeping the fast and furious pace that we'd set in just a couple of days. I needed more. I **deserved** more.

Darui seemed shocked. His eyes weren't bulging out of their sockets or anything, but having been exposed to his laid back demeanor, I'd gotten the idea of what he was and wasn't used to.

He scratched the back of his head. "I know that you aren't."

He tried to calm down the overly defensive demeanor that I'd just gotten. He took several steps away from me. "That wasn't supposed to happen. I just… I got carried away. I'm sorry."

I nodded after he seemed to wait for a response.

"It's just that you do something to me."

Excuse me? I do something to _him_?!

"I won't bother you anymore if that's what you'd like."

I feverishly shook my head. "No! That's not what I meant!"

I walked over to him. "I _do_ want to continue seeing you. But I don't just want to make out with you. I don't want to have _that_ kind of relationship."

He came closer to me. "Me either. But aside from those getting dull, you should know that I never could treat you like that, Breena."

I blushed. He'd been the only one here to call me by my full name in a while. Hell, I was surprised that he'd remembered it.

He grabbed my hand. "I'd like to get to know you."

I hesitated at his open invitation. "Okay."

He grinned as he lightly rubbed his thumb on the outside of my hand. "Okay. We'll take things slow, get to know each other and… go from there."

After thinking it over for a second, I agreed to his outline. Although, God knows how much I wished that we could move things much faster.

"Sounds good," I smiled.

**~*~*~*~  
>Thank you all for your continued support! Also for those who may have forgotten, Izumo and Kotetsu are the Jounin who guard the front post at the entrance of the Hidden Leaf village. <strong>


	12. Throwing Caution to the Wind

"How much of that did you hear?" Shizune asked the blonde teenager.

"Uh… not much…" Naruto trailed off in his answer, trying to avoid cracking under pressure.

He was a bit embarrassed when he was found out by Shizune and Anko. Things only got worse when Shizune decided to take Naruto over to Tsunade's office while the leader was out for a meeting between all of the sector leaders. She wouldn't be back for quite some time, giving the worried woman time to clean up the mess that she'd made at the expense of the nervous blonde teen.

"Naruto…" She said his name in a demanding tone, asserting her authority over him.

He struggled for a bit but when he noticed the glare she gave him, he caved in.

" I heard something about Bree and Darui making out and causing havoc to the camp…"

Damn it. He **did** hear more than he was supposed to, she thought to herself.

"Alright, Naruto. I need for you to forget everything that you heard back there."

"Why?" he asked naively.

"Just do it, alright? I don't want for any rumors to go around. Things are already changing for the worse. We don't need anything else to propel the camp to the ground."

He looked down, as if he was unable to completely understand.

"Naruto, trust me. This is for the best," She said gently.

When he didn't say anything, she gestured for him to go. "You may leave. Thank you for your cooperation."

Again, silence answered for the teenager as he got up out of his seat and walked to the exit. But when he reached the door, he looked back at his senior.

"You're going to make them stop seeing each other, aren't you?"

Shizune played off her initial surprise to his statement, before softly replying, "It's for the best."

He shook his head, as if disappointed in her, before walking out silently and shutting the door behind him.

* * *

><p>"So things are okay over there?"<p>

"Yes, Mom. Things are perfectly fine," I responded into my cell phone as I walked over to my cabin.

"Are you sure? Because if you need me to, I'll get in the car and go-"

"No, Mom," I dreaded. "It's not that bad here."

"Not that bad?!"

"Nope," I smiled over my dramatization. Sometimes it was just fun to rile her up.

"That's it! I'll be over there in-"

"I'm kidding, Mom," I chuckled. "I'm just pulling your leg. Everything's fine."

"…."

"Mom? You there?"

"…"

"Hello?"

"I'm leaving right now."

"Mom! I'm fine! Please do not come here. You know how much I need the credits for this."

"Well we can find another camp! I know that they have to have one at the YMCA. You could-"

"No. That won't work."

"-_**And **_why not?"

"I don't think that they'd have enough campers for it where we are. Besides, who goes to the YMCA anymore?"

Again, silence.

I chuckled to myself. She was still over-protective, even when I was so far away from her.

"I'm fine, Mom, really. Don't worry about me. You should go out and do your own thing."

"You **are** my own thing," she said harshly.

"Something else, Mom. You know what I mean."

After noticing how unrelenting I was on my decision, she sighed in forfeit.

"Fine. I won't pick you up. But, you have to promise to call me more. I get so worried about what those people could be putting you through."

I rolled my eyes, although I appreciated her coddling of me. It was the only form of love that I'd gotten last year. In fact, she'd become my best friend, as the ones whom I thought were deserted me after that incident.

This year was going to be different. "I promise."

We exchanged good-byes before I forced myself to hang up the phone.

I laughed at her love for me. It seemed as if she was always worried about me, even after I'd reassure her that everything was fine. Since I've been here for the couple of weeks, she kept pressing me to see if there were any issues each time we spoke on the phone. When I'd tell her no, she'd try to make me "give in" and tell her the truth. But the honest truth was that, though I couldn't admit it to her, I was having a blast here. I made some friends, have had nothing but awesome times interacting with different people, and lastly, but more importantly, I had someone who I felt was reciprocating my feelings. For me, that was damned impressive.

"You seem happy."

A shiver went down my spine before I hurriedly put my cell phone in my shorts' pocket, hoping that I hadn't been seen with it.

"Hey Kakashi!" I said a little too loud as I turned around to face him. Thank God it was him and not one of my other strict higher ups.

His eyebrow rose slightly. "You don't have to hide that. Everyone here uses one, including Mifune."

"Oh." My shoulders slumped. Relief kicked into my body. "Praise God. I've been walking around here thinking that I was the only one using one. I was beginning to feel bad. "

"-But, If Tsunade saw you, I guarantee that you'd be getting chewed out by now." He stared at me for a minute, as if trying to peer through my soul or something.

"Ah. Well then, I'll be more careful."

"-Or you could just obey the rules, like you're supposed to."

"But… didn't you just say that everyone used a pho-"

"I'm not talking about that," he said, rather sternly. "You know what I'm talking about."

"Uh… no, I really don't."

He sighed before he scanned the area to make sure that things were clear to continue.

"Kakashi? What's wrong? You're freaking me out."

When he noticed that things were clear, he continued. "Feeling a bit cloudy- headed?"

My eyes practically came out of head. Fuck. Kakashi knows.

I was at a loss for words until I noticed his stare becoming tense towards me. I calmed down a bit as I just noticed what he said. "Cloudy- headed? Since when are you so corny?"

I laughed at the stupid pun that he'd made. Cloudy- headed? As long as I've known him, he'd never been that lame.

"Uh... I guess that your asking me about my relationship with Darui, right?"

He nodded slightly, seemingly disgusted with my admission.

I grunted at the discovery of this new relationship that I was trying to create. Though, we've only seen eachother a couple of times. Surely this didn't warrant this confrontation.

"Breena?" Kakashi repeated my name several times, trying to get my answer.

"What about Darui?"

"The two of you can't happen."

"Who said that anything was happening between us? We're just friends."

"Uh-huh." He said disbelievingly.

"Anyway, what does it have to do with you?"

"Nothing," he said matter-of-factly. "But pretty soon it could have a lot to do with me; after all, a subordinate under my watch getting into any trouble really won't help me with Lady Tsunade."

"Now you care about getting into trouble?"

"-And about you getting into trouble. I don't think that rule breaking here would reflect well on your record."

I rolled my eyes. He was baiting me but I'd be damned if I was gonna bite. "I appreciate your concern, _sir,_ but I've been nothing but a model volunteer here."

I checked my phone once more, before putting it in my pocket and turning to walk away from him.

"I have several other questions to ask, actually. For one, why didn't you return to the soccer game earlier today?"

What the fuck? Was he keeping track of me?

I crossed my arms. "I was getting supplies and by the time I returned, the bell rang. I had to move on to the next period."

"You went to get supplies? It took you that long to get supplies?"

"Yes! I mean have you seen that supplies shack that you guys have over here? There is no such thing as organization when it comes to that place. It took me so long to find those stupid cones."

"So now you're blaming the organization of sports equipment?"

"Look, the activity period was almost over anyway. We'd played basketball and went over some safety procedures with the kids. We were going to go back in the gym to screw around until time was up but Yamato insisted that we play a soccer game."

He looked like he still didn't believe me. "Now you're blaming this on your supervisor?"

"I'm not particularly blaming this on anyone, I'm just saying that there wasn't enough time for me to find the cones and get back to the game."

He shook his head, as if in disbelief of what I was telling him. He looked around cautiously and ushered me to come closer to him. When I did, he leaned in towards me.

"I know that the two of you are seeing each other."

I kept my calm stance. There was no way in hell that he'd know. We were both careful, taking precautionary measures by making sure no one found out about our meetings.

"No, we're not," I said casually.

He stared at me for a second, before replying, "Liar."

Damn.

"So what if we are?" I asked defiantly.

He shrugged, "I wouldn't really care if this was a normal situation."

"A normal situation?" I frowned, "Isn't that what this is?"

"No. This is a normal thing, but this place isn't a normal camp."

"So what?"

"So end it."

"I don't want to."

I could tell that he was surprised by my defiance. He sighed and put his hands in his pockets, as he traditionally did.

"You don't know what you're walking into," he said lazily, looking up towards the sky.

"Excuse me? I'm more than capable of making the right decisions for myself. I find Darui to be a respectful, kind guy. I know that he wouldn't hurt me."

"You know? Oh. So then you're sure that he won't do anything damaging to you?"

I jabbered a little, not being able to have an adequate answer that would actually satisfy him. Dammit, I really don't know that much about the dude.

Kakashi waited for me to respond, but when he saw that I couldn't, his stance softened.

"Bree, what do you know about him? Has he told you anything?"

I shook my head, "No."

"Did he reveal anything to you to make you actually believe that you could trust him?"

Again, I shook my head.

"Well… I don't think that you should rush into this then."

"…But it's just a summer fling."

"You and I both know that is the last thing that you need right now."

I looked up at him.

"What do you know about me?"

He shrugged, "I am your supervisor, so a lot."

A chill suddenly flew through my body. I felt very cold and revealed.

"I know all about Liam and how he treated you last summer. I also know what you almost killed yourself."

I frowned."I had a feeling that it would get out."

This was a summer camp that was partly sponsored by my college, after all. Officials here would definitely have access to my records.

"So… are you just protecting Darui from me? Are you afraid that I'm gonna hurt myself or something?"

"Nope."

I fell down harshly onto the ground. This guy had to be kidding me.

"Then what?" I asked. "You're just meddling just to start shit?"

"Nah. I want to make sure that two people with questionable pasts don't slip again."

"What?"

He looked at me lazily. "Just remember what I said." He leaned forward a bit, "Also, if you're gonna do something so secretive, you both should make sure that people don't catch you."

I took a step back, "Someone else saw us? They were with you? Who?"

I gleam of satisfaction appeared in his visible eye, and his demeanor changed quickly.

He grinned at me before waving me off and walking away.

I grew angry, "What the fuck, Kakashi?! Would you just tell me who it was?"

I huffed towards his back a bit more, but it did no good. The mysterious, sly and often wise man wouldn't tell me anything else that pertained to the subject.

Damn. Maybe I should've taken Mom's offer.

* * *

><p>"Uh… you still haven't told me where you were. You know how much we need you around here," Shee lectured his best friend.<p>

Darui grinned slyly, "Doesn't matter, dude. Just let it go."

When Darui returned to the Cloud office from his so-called errands, Shee couldn't help but notice the happy, slightly excited expression on his face; an expression that he'd seen once was something that he wasn't ever used to. Ever since they were kids, Darui never seemed to be particularly happy or satisfied with anything, unless…

"You went to see Bree, didn't you?" Shee asked, frustrated.

Darui rolled his eyes, before he walked past him to examine some papers that were placed on A's desk. "Don't start, man. You're ruining my vibe."

"Ruining your vibe? Are you serious?"

Darui ignored him as he asked, "What are these?"

"Don't know. And you don't need to know, either. It's for _his_ eyes only."

"Then why are they out in the open? A isn't that private."

Shee grew silent, as he knew that his friend did have a point.

"Speaking of which, where is he? He told me earlier that he wanted for me to do some other errands for him."

Shee shrugged, "He just rambled on about Bee and destroyed some furniture-"

"Nothing unusual there."

"-But then, he received a message from the Stone receptionist, and left in a hurry."

Darui drew back, but still held a calm demeanor.

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know. But I have a bad feeling."

Darui cursed inwardly; the last time A was away from his desk, it had something to do with the rule changes at the vicinity.

He paused and then looked down at his stupid new uniform. The dark purple shirt, along with it's emblem represented everything that he'd usually been against: conformity. Perhaps his rebellious streak had caused the change in things.

"Shee… do you think-"

The blonde guy turned sharply around in his chair. "I don't know, but whatever you are doing with that girl, you should stop. It's bad enough that you already have eyes on you from the other romance that you had with-"

"Don't go there," Darui said harshly. "You know that I did everything that I could to keep that from getting out to Mifune."

"But it still happened, man. Even with all of your attempts to keep it quiet, it still happened."

Darui frowned."This time is different, dude. I've got this one under control. Trust me."

Shee gave him a disbelieving look, before turning back around in his seat to resume filing papers.

"I hope you do this time, Darui."

* * *

><p>"ALRIGHT, WE'RE ALL HERE. CAN WE FINALLY GET DOWN TO BUSINESS?! I'VE GOT THINGS TO TAKE CARE OF!"<p>

Camp counsilor A roared with impatience to his leader, who was sitting along with his fellow peers at the summons table. "MIFUNE YOU OWE US AN EXPLANATION! WHAT IS THIS ABOUT?!"

Onoki, the Stone Leader, grew irritated with each second as he sat next to his loud tablemate. "Mifune, tell us what is going on before this simpleton shouts my ear off."

"WHAT WAS THAT?!"

Onoki ignored his sensitivity and turned to Mifune. "I demand to know what is going on! Because of you I had to leave my office just as I was attending to some very important matters."

The Water sector leader, Mei Terumi laughed at her seniors lie. "By important matters, you mean that you were napping, old man."

"WHAT DID YOU SAY TO ME, GIRL?!"

Mei shrugged, before twirling a locke of her long, brunette hair, "I'm only stating the facts, sir."

Before Onoki could further tear into Mei, Tsunade interjected across the table. "Mifune, I had to force my sector into wearing those stupid uniforms-"

"Your sector is no different than the rest of ours, Miss Tsunade," Gaara, a red headed young man, who reeked of emo, said calmly.

Tsunade grew angry and pointed at the kid. "And who the hell is this young punk?"

Mei smiled kindly. "This young man is the new Sand Sector Head Counsilor."

"WHAT?!" The rest of the asked conjointly, as they jumped up from their seats in disbelief.

When they turned to Mifune for an answer, he simply nodded.

"You didn't appoint me to my position until I was-"

"What's your point, Leaf? I had to wait a while to become the leader of the Stone."

"-Since the beginning of time, in fact," Mei quipped.

Onoki quickly turned to her, "YOU KNOW WHAT-"

"Are you all quite finished?" Mifune finally asked, tired of all of the bickering.

The three counselors sat down in their seats as the room grew quiet. They silently looked around at each other, afraid that they could've possibly disrespected the founder of the camp.

When he didn't hear a response, Mifune looked across the table at Tsunade. "Gaara is indeed the new leader of the Sand."

The leaders gasped, shocked that their normally practical boss had done something so questionable.

"Gaara is the child prodigy of the East. Not only is he incredibly attentive for his age, he is also very intelligent."

Mei grinned, "He graduated from High School at age twelve."

Tsunade still rebelled. "I still don't see how he can be-"

"Aside from that," Mifune interrupted, "His father was the Sand's previous leader, and his siblings are Kankuro and Temari. Need I say anymore?"

The other three adults gasped.

"So _this_ is the little brother," Onoki mused. "Interesting."

"_Very_," Mifune said sarcastically. "Anyway, the reason that I have gathered you all here is simple: I need your cooperation."

"COOPERATION?!" A bellowed once more. "WE'VE DONE NOTHING BUT COOPERATE WITH YOU AND THE HIGHER UP'S."

"And I assure you-"

"We've put up with the new rules, transferred many of our humble, loyal subordinates to the other camp and regulated the new separation of sectors. What else do you want for us to do?" Mei asked.

"I want for you to trust me!" Mifune shouted, catching his workers off guard.

"Just… trust me… for now. That is all that I ask," he mumbled.

The Counselors looked over at each other; for once, they'd felt sympathetic for their boss, the one who'd put them through all of this hell.

Tsunade frowned visibly, but gently asked. "What is it that you want, sir?"

Mifune rose his head up, noting all of his subordinates now expressing concern and care on all of their faces. It was quite a sight to see, considering how ass-holic all of them could be at times.

"I'd like for you extend the rehabilitation grace."

His workers' eyes grew wide, as they knew that this had to be a special condition.

A stood from his chair again, "ABSOLUTELY NOT!"

Mei agreed, "Sir, the last one happened less than three years ago-"

"-And look at how that worked out for everyone," Tsunade said.

Mifune simply looked over at A and said. "Darui is still here, right?"

Once again, the room grew silent. Each sector leader reflecting the incident that occurred back then.

"Shall I repeat the question?" Mifune asked, knowing the full answer already.

Onoki rebuffed any responsibility of the issue. "That kid was the Cloud's problem, not ours."

"But you still gave him his chance, didn't you, Master Onoki? After all, it requires five votes in all to become passed."

The elder still refused to accept his part. "I only did that for _his_ sake," he tilted his head to A.

"Are you saying then, that you won't do it for me then Onoki?" Mifune slightly rose his voice.

Onoki stammered on a reply, before finally offering silence as his answer.

Mei interrupted, "The Cloud boy's case would've been interwoven with scandal, not to mention the lawsuits and potential shutdown that this place would have to endure."

"Agreed," Onoki grinned, impressed by Mei's intellect of the mature issue. "Nonetheless, this conversation is meaningless until he tells us whom he wants us to grace."

Everyone nodded in agreement before Onoki asked, "Whom is it that we should grant grace to?"

The leader paused for a second, conjuring the courage to say the name.

"My daughter, Samui."


End file.
